The journey of a Hurlock
by skorge
Summary: Ever wondered how the Blight would be like from the darkspawns view? follow a hurlock as it fighs alongside the horde and the archdemon through Ferelden...and beyond.
1. Act 1 Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Birth

_Creation and __birth_

The newborn Hurlock slowly came to. It lay in a pool of black blood as it squirmed and writhed. It slowly opened its new eyes and saw only blur, though it could make out other moving things around it. It got up on its hands and knees but only with heavy effort from its newly formed muscles. It tasted a coppery yet sweet liquid and spit out the blood from its mouth. The fluid had filled its mouth because of its sharp teeth that had been grown unnaturally fast and ripped the flesh inside its jaws. Its entire body burned with pain from the much too rapid growth and it howled in agony, along with its brood mates.

It finally managed to sit steadily and its vision cleared. The Hurlock`s brethren were coming to just as it had, all of them experiencing the same level of new pain.

Behind them sat a huge creature. Its flesh was pinkish and bloated with so many and large folds that its legs had disappeared. Its long tentacles swung back and forth, occasionally herding the new brood together when one tried to crawl away. The newborn Hurlock heard wanted to roar out its rage that seemed to scream in its veins, roar at the world, at this empty darkness and at the brood. It wanted to, but didn`t.

The huge creature that had given birth to them seemed to hum deep within its barely visible throat. It was a pleasant and soothing sound. The Hurlock was about to listen more closely when an even more powerful sound came. It screamed from the walls and the tunnels. It reached inside its body and tugged at his flesh, bones and blood. The noise was a beautiful symphony and a mighty roar all at the same time.

The Hurlock roared with it and so did its brothers. They howled their rage until the tunnels echoed and the smaller creatures fled. The sound only intensified in response and it drove the Hurlock slowly mad. The far off sound gave it the strength to overcome its unused muscles. It defied its own weakness and stood to its full height and howled louder. Its fellow brood stood as well and the closest began to jerk and twist around with the power of the song.

_Kill, Slay, Dominate_

The newborn Hurlock turned on its brother and leapt upon it. He grabbed hold of the smaller Hurlock`s shoulders and sunk its fangs deep in the other`s throat. Black blood flowed down their chests and the limp body fell.

This caused all the brood to go mad and a vicious melee ensued. The newborn Hurlock bit, clawed and tore asunder his brothers, all to please the voice. Once the fight was over onlt it remained standing, covered in the brood`s blood. The large pink creature purred with delight and stroked the Hurlock with a tentacle.

The Hurlock looked around. Ten of his fellows lay dead on the ground. The voice sang again.

_Feast, Devour, Consume_

The Hurlock did not know what this voice was; only that it must find the source. But first, it would obey. It threw itself on the bodies of its brothers and feasted on their corpses. The Brood Mother looked on, almost proudly. Once again the voice spoke.

_Search, Find, Uncover_

The voice almost tore away at its flesh now. It wanted the Hurlock to find it and free it. The Hurlock rose, and walked away into the shadows. It would find the source and unleash it.

The song drove it ever onward into the shadows of the deep, ever forward. It disappeared from the Brood Mother`s sight and it barely had time to glance one last time at it before new pain erupted through its massive body. The next brood was on its way.

The Hurlock prowled the tunnels alone, but as it moved it felt more voices in the everlasting night of the deep. More and more came and joined in. Dozens, hundreds, thousands came. The Hurlock smirked; soon it would not be alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Search

The newborn Hurlock had just left the small cave of its birth. It looked around the tunnel, its milky eyes easily piercing the heavy darkness, and found a row of weapons and a few pieces of armor sitting along the wall. No doubt these had been placed here by other darkspawn for the brood to find, though the Hurlock did not know this of course. It walked up to the pile and searched it with clawed hands until it found the pommel of a sword. It grabbed hold and slid the weapon free from the chest plates, knee guards and straps of leather is lay buried under with a dull swish. It tried the weapon by swinging it through the air, getting used to the weight of it in Its hands. The Hurlock then strapped itself into a chipped and tattered chest plate and leather leggings before once again moving.

It had no idea how it knew to hold the sword, how to strap on the armor or how it knew to follow the insistent Voice deeper into the dark. It was just instinct that drove it on. To find arms and armor and move was all It heard. It walked slowly through the tunnel, growling at every shadow it found. It could fell the beautiful Voice in its head which drove It to place one foot in front of the other and walk. It couldn`t stop a deep humming from erupting from its cavernous chest. The humming matched the rising and lowering of the music in the distance. It pitched in unison as It started hearing others as well. Some were far in the distance like the Voice itself while others seemed to be just on the other side of the tunnels walls. The tunnel It was walking in was empty besides the Hurlock yet it felt surrounded by these many voices.

It was in this state the Hurlock finally left the tunnel and arrived at another cave. This one was much larger and the Hurlock`s steps echoed as it walked in with heavy foot falls. It would have continued right past the cave if it weren't for an almost undetectable shuffle, a flick of dust landing on the Hurlock`s head and a series of small clicking noises. The Hurlock stopped humming to look around slowly, its dull eyes searching the blackness.

Something pounced on It from behind and pinned It to the ground with its front side up. The new creature pinned It down and hissed in Its face. It was a huge spider, though the Hurlock didn`t know this. It saw only an enemy, a danger to Itself and its goal. The Hurlock roared and slashed at the spider`s legs. One came off with a pop and the spider jumped away to stop a few feet back. The Hurlock sprang up and charged with a roar, sword held high. The spider moved with incredible speed and jumped away from It. The spider bounced around the Hurlock in a circle, waiting for an opening. The Hurlock tried desperately to reach the spider with Its blade but proved to slow. The Voice spurred It on and the Hurlock growled furiously. It threw the curved sword through the air and it sink deep in the spider`s head. The monster slumped and fell down. The Hurlock ran forward and pulled the sword out with a sickening splatter. It placed a foot on the body and howled in victory. The rage filled roar echoed through the tunnels and some of the other voices stopped and seemed to listen to Its triumphant declaration.

The Hurlock left the body and the tunnel behind as if nothing had happened. But something had happened, the Hurlock had made its first kill and the Voice was pleased. It continued on its lone journey while it listened to the music.

_Kill, Search, Spread_

The Hurlock would later come across a third cave. It hid behind a large boulder when It spotted another of the large, pink, tentacle creature It had seen after It were born. For the first time the Hurlock really assessed the creature. It was oozing with the same scent that tugged at Its blood to follow the Voice. It emanated the same dark energy It felt in Its own veins. Then It noticed the squirming bodies next to the Brood Mother, the new brood.

They were different from the ones that It had been born among, and assumed that It also looked like those. These were shorter, their skin were browner or greener in some cases and it was easily twice as many in this brood than the Hurlock`s own. It was obvious that the Brood Mother had difficulty keeping an eye on so many and one managed to sneak away from its tentacles. The short creature ran straight toward the tunnel where the Hurlock sat hunched.

_Dominate _

Just as the little genlock was about to run past It the Hurlock grabbed its neck, lifted it from the ground and roared in its face. The genlock`s feet dangled above the ground pathetically while it hissed and whined. The much stronger and taller Hurlock snarled in disgust and closed its strong jaws on the squealing creature`s neck so that cold, black blood sprayed out over them. The body gave a few last twitches before its tens muscles relaxed and slumped in the air. The Hurlock threw the body to the side unceremoniously and advanced on the pack with warning growls. The genlocks stared at It with wary hisses but did not stop It from walked up to them. With a howl the Hurlock began to cuff the smaller creatures over the head, give the claw marks on their chest and backs and throw them to the ground until they all graveled at Its feet like dogs. With a bark of command the Hurlock led them away from the cave and they followed in a small line behind It. They found weapons and armor here as well and the Hurlock made sure Its little tribe was prepared for the search ahead.

Once again the Voice was all that told the Hurlock that these weaklings were members of his own kind, though not the same race. They hissed and cuffed each other over shoulder guards, a broken dagger and one fight over a bow got particularly nasty, ending with a bleeding rib case.

Once the party was armed they moved on. They found little opposition now that they traveled in numbers. Only the occasional pair of spiders or pack of deep stalkers interrupted their search for the Voice. The music seemed so far off and never got closer, which frustrated the Hurlock to no end.

On the other hand the smaller voices, the ones the Hurlock now understood belonged to other darkspawn, were close. Several more had joined their expedition. Besides the seventeen or so genlocks that had started off with the Hurlock there were now almost thirty of the creatures, along with a dozen hurlocks and three new creatures. The new ones were roughly the same height as hurlocks but much more hunched over. Their faces and snouts were longer, as were their fingers and claws. They didn`t roar like hurlocks or hiss like genlocks, instead they shrieked loudly. They noise made the shorter ones scurry away and the taller ones snarl in warning.

Meanwhile the Hurlock watching Its tribe with a smirk. Now they had the numbers to find the Voice, and still he heard thousands more of his brothers out there. It knew that the voice would unite them and bring them salvation, It knew that it would. With a howl It gathered his troops around It and marched on once again. They did not travel far this time. There was no longer anyone who could threaten them in the dark while they were this numerous.

The Hurlock led them to a strange ruin where It stopped them. There was a strong feeling of the corruption here. The Hurlock prowled the ruin in search of the source. It entered a large house alone. The inside was of course dusty and the objects were all broken. It followed the hall deeper in and found a room filled with books. It picked one up, watched as a few tattered pages fell out and looked the book over before discarding it. It found a picture of a pair of dwarves, though It of course had never seen a dwarf before. It picked up the silver frame and cocked Its head at the image of a bearded man giving a tiny Nug to his wife who seemed so giggle with delight. It scratched at the image with a claw before throwing it aside with a snarl. It found more texts, looked at a few and then threw them away as well.

The Hurlock continued to what had probably pone been a might dining hall and entered. There was a massive breach in the wall so you could see the rest of the city outside. The tables and chairs were all smashed. There was a large boulder at the end of the hall, sitting in the far corner next to what had once been a fireplace. The Hurlock moved in an examined a few plates and silver ware on the floor when it heard a rumble and sprang to its feet. The sound had come from the room, not outside. It walked over to the destroyed wall to look outside just in case and then felt the floor shake with a few rhythmic pauses. It only came a few times before the Hurlock was certain that they were getting louder and turned to leave. It stopped dead in Its tracks when It found Its way and sight obscured by a pair of thick, trunk-like legs that swelled with muscles under a blue-grey hide.

When the Hurlock looked up it saw more muscle on a wide chest and arms and finally a fang filled mouth on a nightmarish face. The creature was huge. Looking around the Hurlock realized that what It had thought to be a boulder had in fact been this creature sitting against the wall. Its two massive horns scrapped the ceiling as it cocked its head at the smaller Hurlock.

The Hurlock met its gaze with Its own fiery one.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Ogre

The Hurlock and the ogre glared at each other inside the tight space of the withered dwarves house, at least on the ogre`s part. The Hurlock knew it was doomed. Among Its kind the strong led the weak, and killed them off when it fitted them. There were no doubts as to who was the stronger here. If the Hurlock and curled up in a ball It would likely had fitted inside the muscles than rippled the monster`s giant chest. But It did not fear death, It would fight until the end and be pleased to have perished against something stronger and more worthy than Itself. It met the ogre`s stare with Its own.

The ogre itself had not moved sins the smaller Hurlock had arrived, not counting having moved so close to It. It only looked down with what? Curiosity? Interest? The Hurlock had a similar glint in Its eye as it raised It sword in front of Its chest. The ogre did not have the blazing glare of the hurlocks. Rather its eyes held a bottomless abyss. A darkness that seemed just as deep as the tunnels they inhabited. It had hunger and hate, but no real intelligence. The hurlocks all had a certain cunning to their character, as did the genlocks and shrieks.

The ogre`s muscles suddenly tensed visibly and it roared at the Hurlock. The sound shook the little house and made whatever furniture remained tremble and some even fell. Outside a pack of Deep Stalkers fled in fright and the troop of darkspawn all lifted their heads towards the house. The roar faded to a howl and then a growl.

The Hurlock hadn`t moved a muscle, only a slight tenseness to its stance indicated that It had even noticed the earsplitting sound. Its eyes remained locked on the ogre`s as the creature began to roar again, this time also pounding its massive chest and slamming its fists into the floor. That made the remaining tables crumble and a few books to fall down in the next room but still the Hurlock only glared back before it drew a deep breath and roared back for a minute they stood there, roaring in each other's faces. The Hurlock almost matched the ogre in sound level before they both stopped. They stared at each other once again. The Hurlock could have been smashed into a bloody, gory, boney paste by the ogre`s feet or hands. It could have been torn limb by limb by those mighty choppers that filled its jaws. They would not find out however. Neither one of the noticed the shadows that crawled slowly along the house`s outer walls. The Hurlock was about to challenge the larger beast once again but one of the new arrival leapt from the hole in the wall from where it had hid and landed full on Its back. It managed to turn around to find a giant spider standing over him with all eight of its eye locked on It. The Hurlock growled defiantly but knew that within the next few second the spider would plunge those dagger-like fangs into Its chest or neck. Before it could do so however, a giant, blue-skinned hand closed around the spider`s body and lifted it away with fingers that stood out with iron muscles. The spider let out a hiss that sounded like s shrill scream as the ogre held it up by the midsection with ease. The dark abysses in its large eyes were now filled with fire and it roared, filling the air with spittle before it closed its other fist around the spiders little head and squeezed until a viscous yellow fluid came flowing between the unrelenting fingers. The headless body fell to the floor a moment later. The ogre had barely enough time to take another breath however before a second spider pounced on it from behind and held fast with its long legs around its torso. The predator bit deep into the ogre`s back and its poison poured into the wound. The blue giant howled and clutched at the thing and managed to grab hold of two of its legs in one fist. With a huff it slung the spider from its back like a bag of rise, slamming it into the floor with such force that it smeared into a yellow puddle.

By now the Hurlock was on Its feet, had grabbed Its sword and easily dispatched the last spider with furious swipes of Its blade. The floor and wall was smeared with yellow stains. The two darkspawn looked at each other. The flames in the ogre`s eyes were gone, replaced with a dark neutrality, as if nothing interesting had just happened. The Hurlock gave a low huff before turning and stalking out of the house. It felt vibrations and glanced back to see the ogre follow It down the path to where the rest of the tribe were gathered. The genlocks scurried away before the mightiest of darkspawn when it approached, while the shrieks and hurlocks acknowledged its presence with wary hisses and growl. The ogre ignored all of them and stayed at the edge of the little camp, watching the shadows with equally dark eyes. They all sat in utter silence, aside from the occasional hiss when one of them though another came a little too close. The Hurlock stood in the center of the group, listening to the Voice in the shadows. It sounded excited and approving, knowing that they were close.

It was interrupted when a shuffle broke out nearby between two genlocks. The creatures clawed at each other while hissing loudly. They seemed to be fighting over a round metal shield. The disc was of good quality it seemed, at least compared to their own crude armor pieces. The fight soon saw blood when one of them bit the other`s shoulder. The resulting shriek made the ogre in its corner twitch a little and look up with bared teeth. When the injured genlock gave another scream the massive beast roared and stomped towards them. The shaking ground separated the combatants and once they both saw the approaching monster they both turned to flee. The first hadn`t even taken a step before it was smacked away by a back-handed swipe from the ogre`s forearm. The little one flew through the air and landed in a underground river which flowed next to the little ruin. The ogre then went after the second disturber of its peace and caught up with it in three long strides, and stomped it under its foot on the fourth. The short darkspawn splattered under the force of it and was instantly killed.

The ogre turned to where the other darkspawn stood gathered and roared at them before going back to its dark sanctuary; the darkspawn equivalent of saying," Shut the hell up, I`m tired." The Hurlock had watched the whole scene from Its place in the center of the camp. It grinned widely. As It watched the ogre It felt…well It didn`t quite hate it as much as the others of Its kind. The genlocks were weaklings, the shrieks were much too quiet and sneaky and the other hurlocks were all possible competitors for leadership. The ogre however, were none of these things. It was stronger than them all, it noised its approval or disapproval loudly and it seemed perfectly willing to follow commands, as long as you didn`t disturb its rest it seemed. At other times the ogre would have likely ignored the petty fights of the weaker darkspawn, but the wound it had gotten from the spider clearly had it on edge. The Hurlock saw the bite ooze with a white fluid that mixed with the blood. It would take more poison than a single bite to bring down the giant but it took its toll.

The Hurlock decided not to wait any longer. It strode down to the group and let out growls or command to get moving. Anyone who was too slow got a fist to the head and soon the whole party, the ogre included, was once again on the march away from the ruin of their ancient enemy. They left through the opening to yet another great tunnel, leading to who knew where.

The Hurlock knew, toward the Voice and still sang to It.

_Find, Uncover, awaken_

The call repeated itself time and time again in Its head. It noted that the ogre always kept rather close to It, staying just behind It as if keeping watch over its smaller leader. The journey was as slow and uneventful as it had been before. They came across small herds of Brontos that either fled or became more aggressive but they only caused minor inury or casualties before the ogre or the hurlocks drove it off. No spiders or Deep Stalkers dared attack them and more darkspawn joined them whenever they happened to cross their path. They now numbered almost one hundred darkspawn of various breeds. They still only had the single ogre which the leading Hurlock had found in the dwarven house though.

The Hurlock knew the Voice would be pleased by the tribe It had gathered and the hundreds more that would later join for sure. They were all drawn by the song, like ants toward their colony. The deep tunnels were buzzing with darkspawn who hummed along with the melody in the distance and the walls and every little shadow. The Hurlock knew the Voice spoke to Its blood and that this had effects on the area around them. It had noticed the corruption spread around them and snake over the stone like a black net, or a carpet had It known of such things.

They had wandered through the same tunnel for almost five hours before it opened. Being used to complete darkness by now the Hurlock had to squint at the sudden light It and Its brethren met. The tunnel opened up in a gigantic cave. It was lit by an orange glow which originated from six long rivers of lava that ran along the walls of the cave in a wide circle. There were four tunnels leading away from the natural chamber, one of which the darkspawn now stood in. The thing that drew their attention was the center of the cave. Dominating an open field of rock was another ruin but this one was not in such a bad state as the former they had encountered. The thaig, for that was what it was, was still in usable shape. There were many smaller houses and a market plaza, along with a larger house that must have been an assembly place for nobles. The most dominant building was a large fortress with slick granite walls and battlements. The fort itself almost reached the ceiling of the cave with its towers and high roofs. All of it basked in the light of the lava.

The Hurlock was about to lead his company out of the tunnel and into the town when It froze where It stood. It saw a figure move between two of the most outlying houses. It was about the same size as a genlock and shared the same form, not including their leathery skin, pointy ears and sharp fangs. This one had pink-reddish skin and fur all over its head and chin. It also wore armor of much finer make than these weakest of darkspawn did. It wore heavy armor consisting of black metal plates. On the chest plate was a symbol of a bone white grinning head. Its weapons were also fine. A short sword along with a wide round shield carrying the same mark as its armor. The Hurlock growled.

Unknown to the darkspawn, this was a dwarf, and not just any dwarf. He was a member of the Legion of the Dead; a company of dwarves who were wholly committed to holding away the darkspawn here, in their own tunnels. The dwarf hadn`t spotted the hostile beasts yet sins he seemed to be occupied with looking through the house he stood next to, peaking through the window for salvage probably. The Hurlock was curious and ordered Its tribe to remain hidden while It snuck closer to have a better look, and maybe even have the first kill out of this new enemy. The ogre huffed impatiently and the Hurlock feared that the noise would reveal their location. The dwarf had apparently found something of interest and did not look up. The Hurlock drew Its sword and snuck out of the tunnel. It then half crouched, half ran to cover behind a boulder about thirty feet from the house the dwarf investigated.

_Kill, slaughter, consume_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Legion of the Dead

The Hurlock hunched behind the boulder, keeping a tight grip on Its sword. The dwarf in the black heavy armor had yet to notice Its presence, but was now looking around uneasily. He might have heard when the Hurlock had come sneaking up on him, only ten feet or so separated them after all. The Hurlock waited for an opening, an opportunity to strike. It saw that the shorter prey wore armor far superior to Its own and the sword at his side glimmered in the light from the lava streams. The dwarf then suddenly gave a derisive huff, as if to clear himself of the odd feeling of being watched that all creatures seemed to share, and then turned to go back in the direction of the fortress in the middle of the ruined town.

The Hurlock growled and leapt from Its hiding place, sword held high as It let out a war-cry and charged. The dwarf reacted more quickly than the darkspawn could have anticipated however and spun around, drawing his own blade in the same move. The dwarf`s weapon met the Hurlock`s right above his head, parrying the blow the darkspawn had aimed at the smaller adversary's head. A flash of fear was visible in the dwarf`s eyes but in vanished almost instantly, having been more because of surprise than the enemy`s hideous appearance. He shoved their locked blades back so that the Hurlock stumbled and then bellowed loudly back towards the town for help. No immediate response came so the Hurlock attacked again. It slashed furiously at the dwarf`s head and arms, the only targets that presented a weakness. It hoped to either get a good blow in his skull or knock his weapon away. The dwarf`s shield still hung at his back and he couldn't find any respite in the duel to remove it. The Hurlock managed a hard kick to the legionary`s chest which made him stumble back and trip over a small rock with his armored heel. His armor brought him down with a heavy crash and the Hurlock roared triumphantly. He was about to finish the dwarf off with a quick slash or a stomp to the head but was interrupted by a flash of black at the edge of Its vision. Before It could turn to see what the shadow had been a heavy gauntleted fist hit Its jaw and sent It back a few steps. It felt a tooth snap loose and blood filled Its mouth. Spitting both the blood and the fang out It turned and growled at Its new attacker.

It was a second dwarf, a female. She had short, brown hair and a rough chin. She glared at the Hurlock with venom in her eyes. She wore the same armor as her male comrade and a pair of daggers in each hand. She only looked away long enough to see her fellow rise to his feet unsteadily and then looked back at the darkspawn.

"Stay back, beast." She barked and waved her weapon. "Go get the others, I`ll hold this blight muck off." She said to her companion with a smirk. He obeyed and turned, sprinting toward the fortress with loud yells. The Hurlock saw the man go with a sense of indifference, having a new target in sight. It growled and swung Its sword in a slow X in front of Its chest. The woman in return shifted her weight from foot to foot while holding her daggers out from her sides, ready to either parry or strike. They stood there for a moment, assessing each other, and then charged with savage war-cries.

They clashed with swinging steel, both parrying and striking, both gaining and losing ground. The woman was fast and accurate while the Hurlock was all brute force and fury. It swiped towards the woman`s neck but she ducked and swiped back. The dagger made a cut in the darkspawn`s flank and black blood flowed free. It tossed Its head back and howled, Its face and sharp fangs highlighted by the lava.

About two hundred meters away, the Hurlock`s tribe raised their heads from the tunnel`s darkness and saw the battle with low hisses and growls. The ogre roared and charged out into the orange-yellow light of the lava and led the charge.

The Hurlock hissed and struck out with a fist, catching the woman across the face. She fell to one knee, shaking her dazed head. She had dropped one of her daggers and when she looked around for it she found the weapon under the Hurlock`s clawed foot. It grinned down at her.

She also saw the roughly one hundred and fifty darkspawn that rushed towards their spot of combat, a furious ogre leading them. To her credit she only looked as if to panic for a brief moment before scowling and rising to her feet. She clenched her dagger tight, so tight that the Hurlock could hear the metal gauntlet give a grinding noise. She took a deep breath, preparing to go to the death that must come to all members of the Legion, before raising her head, along with the Hurlock as a powerful sound rang out over the cave. It was a battle horn. The roaring tone faded out after a few moments and was replaced by heavy footfalls and angry shouting. They both turned to see three dozen dwarven legionaries charge out from the fortress gate and rush to meet the darkspawn head on. The woman who had just been scowling in fear and prepared for death now smiled at her comrades and smirked at the Hurlock. She held her ground, as did the Hurlock as the two waves approached each other, which could only end in a bloody clash. No side slowed, neither knowing any fear. The darkspawn were born without it and the dwarves had slowly grinded theirs into dust over decades of fighting these beasts. They all gave roars of fury and rage before clashing around the former duelists. The slaughter began instantly. The dwarves instantly formed a wall of armor and blades while the darkspawn hammered it to no avail. The genlocks who had been in the first wave was instantly cut down, along with a number of hurlocks. The second had better luck; they met the wall and traded blows with the black wall. The Hurlock Itself had lost sight of the woman when a genlock had passed between them and she had backed away to join her fellows. Now It held back, looking for a way to break the barrier. It knew that Its brethren were no were near as experienced or disciplined as the enemy. In this fight the hurlocks were no better off than the weaker genlocks. The shrieks were also in the back, looking for a spot where they could get in a sneak strike, as was their nature. They found none in the impenetrable wall of warriors in front of them. The only one with success was the ogre. It slammed against the wall with its mighty fists, causing dwarves to fly. The caps were quickly filled up by reserves and each time the blue beast sported a new wound, causing it to move slower and slower.

The answer came to the Hurlock in a flash and It grinned. With a howl It called the bleeding ogre over and it came like an obedient hound, grumbling for having to leave the fight. Once the ogre was next to It the Hurlock pointed to the center of the legion`s line and barked Its command. The ogre stared down at It for five full seconds before realizing the point of the plan. It grinned with bloodlust and then lowered its head, and its massive horns with it. It then placed its talons on the ground and began to sprint into the melee with unexpected speed. A genlock was crushed under its foot before the rest backed or threw themselves out of the way. The dwarves saw the monster coming and a tremble went through the line and the ones in the center began to break formation. They were to slow however; the ogre head-butted the two legionaries in its way and they were both sent high and far into the air. With that the dwarves retreated from the roaring and swinging giant and the wall was broken. The other darkspawn surged forward into the gap and individual fighting began. The dwarves were still heavily armed and armored but now they had to face two or three enemies each. The Hurlock threw Itself into the fight. The darkspawn slashed and struck at heads, arms and legs. They bit and clawed at exposed necks and faces. The Hurlock found an opponent and attacked him. They traded a few blows until the Hurlock did something unusual. The dwarf slashed at Its head but the darkspawn ducked and swiped at his flank with the same fluid motion that the woman had shortly before. The Hurlock had picked up the move as an effective one and learned. The sword slipped into the crack in the black armor where the chest plate met the waist. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground, squirming pathetically.

The Hurlock let out a victory yell and threw Its sword away, overcome with the desire to kill with Its bare hands and fangs. It leapt upon the dwarf, pinning him down before grabbing his head. It held for a second to see the man`s frightened expression before leaning down and biting down on his neck, Its fangs severing the rapidly pulsing jugular. Blood fountained out and covered the Hurlock`s face. It then rose from the body, raised Its head and howled. When It looked around the fight was over. All the legionaries were dead, laying where they had fallen. There was a good dose of darkspawn on the ground as well. Roughly two thirds of the tribe was dead, around one hundred darkspawn. That meant that the Hurlock was left with fifty. Most of the dead were genlocks, mixed with a few hurlocks and all five of the shrieks. The ogre was still alive, for which the Hurlock was thankful. It jerked Its head to Its left when It heard a shuffle on the ground. One of the dead hurlocks moved and for a second It though that Its brother was still alive. The thought vanished however when the body was shoved aside to reveal the woman whom It had fought earlier. She was covered in black blood, which was only visible because the white head on the chest plate was covered with it, along with a few stains on her face. She glanced dizzily at the body of the hurlock that had lain on top of her and reached over, pulling her dagger out of its armpit. She breathed heavily as she held the dagger close with one hand and the other held tight against her ribs, where she bleed quite a bit. She spotted the Hurlock approaching and spat in Its direction.

"My time has come, beast. And if the Ancestors are willing, so has yours." She hissed between gritted teeth. The darkspawn cocked Its head at her curiously. It was hard to say what It thought but It was clearly pondering something regarding the dwarf. They watched each other for a while. It was clear that the woman was too injured to fight and win, though that might not have been her intention it seemed. The dwarf had just got to her knees when the Hurlock suddenly barked at a pair of gunlocks who ceased her by the arms, hissing angrily as they did so. She fought back franticly, leaving one of the smaller darkspawn with a bloody snout before being subdued and dragged away, screaming curses as she went. The Hurlock gave the ruins one last look over and then turned to one of the other tunnels in the wall of the cave. The Voice sang loudly in approval of their deed here and It was directing them in that direction. The Hurlock gave a few barking commands and the troop was on its way again, now with a terrified dwarven woman among them. She was being dragged along by two gunlocks but when she later managed to muscle her way free of their grip they were replaced by a pair of the larger hurlocks. She made no noise; no curses or screaming in terror. She was all silent and followed along with little struggle, knowing it would be pointless. The Hurlock had made camp now and the dwarf was set down in a corner where she curled up in a tight ball. Her dagger had of course been removed and now hung from Its hip. The small weapon bounced against Its thigh as It walked over to the woman. Her eyes darted to It when saw It and she pressed as far into the corner as she could. The Hurlock got very close and hunched down in front of her. Staring into her eyes It slowly raised a palm towards her forehead.

_Corrupt, Spread, Consume_

"Stay back, don`t touch me you filthy blighter." She hissed and turned her face away. It only snarled and grabbed her cheeks harshly and forced her to look into Its eyes. The Hurlock then placed Its other hand on her forehead. For a moment nothing happened but then black tendrils seemed to crawl under her skin from where It touched and spread all over her face and down her neck. The armor she wore prevented further sight but the corruption kept spreading. After a minute had passed the Hurlock removed Its hand and smirked as the tendrils vanished.

The dwarven woman`s skin was sickly pale, her eyes now had black circles around them and the eyes themselves were blank and dim, as if covered by glass. The veins in her neck and face were black, clearly visible on her skin. She no longer shivered she had been and she now looked at the darkspawn with a sudden…indifference, like the ghoul she now was. She sat up straight and looked into Its eyes.

"C-Command me, dark one." She mumbled tiredly. The Hurlock smirked and rose up. It gave the woman a huff and she stood up. Without a word she stalked to where the darkspawn camped. They saw her come but no longer growled at her presence. A single genlock hissed at her but she only bared her own teeth at it, like a wild wolf might. She began to tend to wounds, all the while humming along with the song like the darkspawn did. The Hurlock watched her with satisfaction before going over to the ogre who sat hunched in a corner. It was tending to its own wound, or at least as far as its cunning of such things went, which was to keep the wound clean. It saw the Hurlock come and it only bared its teeth for a moment before showing indifference. The Hurlock in turn did not show any signs of aggression, which was unusual. It merely sat down next to the giant and listened to the song along with it. They hummed in sync for a moment before being joined by the woman who checked the wounds on the ogre with systematic deliberateness, humming with Hurlock glanced around. They were growing stronger and stronger, It felt it. Soon they would erupt upon the ones who stood in the way for the Voice's glory, dwarven or otherwise.

The Hurlock was about to walk on when It stopped, an odd sensation running through It. It found it hard to focus as Its vision became first blurry, and then went completely blank. It jerked Its head back as a wave of odd images ran through Its mind. It saw a forest, a thick collection of trees, then a fortress, a tower and two mighty armies clashing. It saw a gold armored human falling and humans with the corruption of darkspawn in their blood fighting against Its kind with uncanny skill. A betrayal, but on the enemy`s side.

The Hurlock snapped to when the images faded, wondering what just happened. A vision?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Dark Master and the surface

**Authors note: I tried my best on how I think that the awakening of the Archdemon might have been. Also sins I wanted to give the Hurlock more depth as a character I will have the Archdemon "bless" him with intelligence and speech. If you have played Awakening you might recall that the intelligent darkspawn refer to each other as he or she so the Hurlock will as well, giving him some more personality. Also thanks to everyone who has reveiwed this. Personally I am not sure about it but you seem to enjoy it. I will try to make the chapters longer in the future. Also I gave the Hurlock my pen name because I think it fits on a darkspawn.**

They were close now, very close. The song was soo strong that the Hurlock thought the stalagmites in the cave`s ceiling might shake loose and come down crashing on them. It walked in the lead with the ogre right behind It, followed shortly by the ghoulish dwarf and the other darkspawn. The Hurlock guessed that the woman`s name was Hily, sins she had mumbled that word to herself constantly almost since when she had joined them. She huddled along with hunched shoulders and slightly bent back. Her eyes were still glassy and dull. Even she seemed to hear the song now because she walked a little faster now, just like the rest of them. The Hurlock briefly wondered if they would break out in an all our run at some point. The long journey would soon be over. The Hurlock felt the Voice`s presence along with many other darkspawn, though It had yet to see them. The ogre suddenly gave a huff and the Hurlock saw the end of the tunnel. It was lit a bright orange like the one where they had found the Legion`s outpost. They emerged and both the sight that met them and the feeling of corruption made the Hurlock think It might explode with the rush of it.

Lava rivers ran through the gigantic cave with a few stone bridges over them. The tunnel they had come from was the only entrance, except a man-sized tunnel entrance at the other side. As the Hurlock stood upon a high cliff looking out It saw thousands of darkspawn in the chamber. All species of darkspawn moved around, brushing shoulders while humming along with the powerful song. The army stood with its back to the new arrivals, facing the much smaller gateway but none entered. The Hurlock`s own tribe ran down and melted into the mass of moving bodies, the ogre and Hily with them. The dwarf actually began to sing along, her tone low and reverant. The darkspawn accepted her presence with little notice. The Hurlock wanted to join in as well, to disappear in that mass of Its brethren and bask in the glory of the song.

_Come, Awaken, free_

The Hurlock was stunned, the Voice had spoken directly to It. It saw all the other darkspawn turn and look at It with expectant, almost excited eyes. It didn`t seem to have any control of Its own body as It began to, step by step, move towards the small tunnel with all watching. When It reached the gateway It peered into the darkness with an, seeing nothing but a long tunnel. As It was about to entered It was joined by a dozen other hurlocks who all stared into the hole. With a collective huff they all entered into the shadows, while the rest of the horde resumed the humming and Hily`s clear voice broke through. The small group prowled deeper until the tight space opened up in another cave. This one was so dark that not even their eyes could adjust to it. There was an odd sensation, a breeze of wind. The Hurlock felt the rythmic gushes of wind upon Its face and notied that It was very warm. The whole chamber was hot in fact, as if there was lava in here but none were visible. Just as It thought this however, lava did appear. It flowed from a ring of perfect holes high up on the cave`s wall. It ran rapidly down the rocky side and each stream, there were almost fifty, gathered up in bowl-like depressions along the wall until they were filled to the edge when the streams stopped. Now the entire chamber was lit and the Hurlock almost prostrated Itself at what was revealed to them. In the center of the cave, and the circle of lava pools, lay a huge dragon. It had blue-purple scales and long wings, neck and tail. It lay curled up in a ball and now the Hurlock realised that what It had thought was wind was actually the creatures heavy breathing. It seemed to be alseep but the roaring song was radiating from It like the sun radiated warmth and light. This was the Voice.

The hurlocks slowly walked towards its giant form. They no longer commanded their own actions as they surrounded the monster in a circle, the Hurlock standing right in front of its head. They all hummed as they raised their hands and stepped closer. They placed their palms on the dragon`s flanks, legs, wings, tail and neck. The Hurlock was the last, placing Its clawed hand on its bone-hard forehead.

For a few breathless moment nothing happened. The black tendrils crawled from all their hands where they touched, like it had done with Hily. It criss-crossed the scales and the wings, covering every spot of the magnificent beast until its scales were now a deep black. The song, along with the dragon`s breathing stopped suddenly. The Hurlock felt an unfemiliar rush of panic before the lava pools exploded in high torrents which kept up, brightening the chamber further. The song began, much stronger now and the dragon breathed deeply. The Hurlock would have closed Its eyes to listen when the dragon instead snapped its own open, looking straight at the Hurlock with yellow eyes. They watched each other for a second before the dragon began to moved,its claws twitching, its scales snapping and creecking from centuries of slumper and unuse. Its tail began to whip and a suddenl twist of it sent one of the hurlocks flying into one of the lava pools, where it disappeared with a shriek. The black dragon shook itself and spread out its wings, forcing the hurlocks to back away several meters.

"_The powers of Old will return, the lords of magic and the sky will once again show their might. I am Urthamiel"_

The voice of the Dark Master was devine indeed, booming through their skulls. Outside the Hurlock heard the horde roar with exaltation. The Hurlock and its brothers in the chamber fell to one knee in front of the Master who finally took notice of them. He watched them closely for a few seconds, his gaze fixed on the Hurlock Itself. With a spray of fire and a growl he sent the other hurlocks away from the cave and they immediately did so. Once they had left the Master looked down at the last Hurlock.

"In my slumper, I felt your successes, you unusual talent for leadership and combat. You are…unique." he said. The Hurlock could only keep Its eyes on the ground in respons. The Master did not seem offended, only amused as he continued.

"I will spread our corruption, out taint, to the surface world. I will need an able commander. I say you would do the role justice." He said, his voice echoing grandly in the Hurlock`s mind. He his massive head and his eyes seemed to glow a bright gold as he took in a deep breath. Before the darkspawn could react It was engulfed in a thick cone of purple fire from the Master`s open jaws. The Hurlock was preparing to meet Its fate but then realised that the flames did not burn It. The inferno enveloped the hurlock and seemed to burn into Its head. It felt the walls of Its mind scatter, spread outward in an explosion of new apprehensions. It remebered Its…no his birth and travel here, as these memories had been slowly fading from his mind. He recalled the excitement of his meeting with the ogre and the odd sense of thankfulness he had felt after it had saved his life from the spiders. The savage joy and satisfaction of fighting the Legion and capturing Hily. He looked up at the Master with a new glint in his milky eyes.

"I name you…Skorge, Commander of my great forces, Harbinger of my will, Messanger of my whims. Champion of the horde" The Master spoke, loud enough that the horde outside cheered in approval. Skorge bowed his head low.

"Command me, Master, and I shall obey." He said lowly. The Master nodded once and then flaped his wings, taking off from the ground and flying towards the wall. He let out a roar and a new wave of fire before him and the solid stone barrier scattered in large chunks, as if hit by lightning. The beautiful form of the Dark Master flew through the hole and the voices of thousands of darkspawn roared in reverance. Skorge emerged to see the Master fly in circles above the army, roaring his victorious triumph at being free once again. He made his way down from the opening to the darkspawn line and saw a good number of them turned to watch him with respect and fear in their eyes. Good, Skorge thought. The only one who didn`t scurry away from his approach was the ogre who had been traveling with him. It only looked down at him with the same loyal indifference as before. Skorge had an idea and placed a fist on his own chest and looked up at the ogre.

"I name you, The Fist of the Champion, great warrior." Skorge growled and the ogre only cocked his head in respons. Skorge smirked and moved on through the mass, Fist following close behind with thundering steps. They stopped at the center of the horde and watched as the Master flew another loop and then exited through the tunnel that led away from the cave. Skorge roared and waved the horde to follow as he too walked into the darkness. The ground trembled as from an earthquake when the darkspawn army moved in such a packed mass and now a few of the rocks actually did come loose and fell among them, though it had little effect on their advance. They marched onward, ever following the form of the Master at the head. Skorge was right behind him and now he noticed the darkspawn, mainly hurlocks, that walked beside him. They wore the same heavy armor of Alphas as he did, indicating their statuses as fellow commanders. Skorge smirked,"Though only I will lead as the Champoin of the Master." He thought. He also saw hurlocks wearing odd headdresses and staves, along with some medallions and other bone and sinew based tokens. These were the Emissaries, the priests of the Master, their god. They were rumored to have magic though Skorge had never seen them use any yet, though he was sure that he would see it soon. Hily huddled along behind him, just as excited as the darkspawn to follow her new dark master. She received a cuff from a growling hurlock when she tried to slip in front of him and hurridly went back to her original spot in the line. The march was long but eventually the road began to sloop upward and then a gate blocked their way. The Master had no difficulty smashing the obstacle down, making the first sunlight the darkspawn had ever seen flash into their eyes. Skorge had to cover his own eyes in pain until he had adjusted to the light. They carefully made their way out in groups until they verified that no danger was present before the bulk of the horde exited, spread out over an area that spanned roughly a kilometer in diameter and made camp.

_**Three days after the horde`s arrival at the surface**_

Skorge had a command tent of sorts set up at the center. It was filled with a variety of weapons and his own heavy armor set. Many of the other Alphas came in to report that their specific group was settle in and to dicuss in which directions to send out their scouts. They all answered directly to Skorge as Supreme Commander. He was also the only Alpha who wasn`t constantly shadowed by an Emissary. The darkspawn mages had two main responsibilities. One; to serve as the Masters devoties and closest servants, giving His orders to the Alphas who in turn gave them to their warriors. Two; to watch over the Alphas so that they only served the Master and His cause, not their own. The Master seemed to trust Skorge enough to not issue an emissary for him. He had just sent away two genlock Alphas who would each lead two of the larger scouting parties when Hily entered the tent.

"Any commands, dark one?" she hissed weakly.

"Have Fist returned yet?" Skorge said sharply

"Not yet, dark one. He is still out with the first group of scouts you sent out. He should return shortly." She said with a bowed head. Skorge didn`t give her a second look as he left the tent and peared out over the forest they had found themselves in after leaving the gate. It was lush and quiet. Not much life seemed to be here. He had considered the vision he had had and this was the forest he had seen. If the rest were true as well, they needed to be prepared. He strode through the massive camp, passing groups of darkspawn as they either sat around fires or checked on their various weapons. The onlt kinds of tentes around the camp were either for weapons and smiths or for other storing purposes. The Alphas had their places at the edge of the camp. This was to ensure that none of the darkspawn simply drifted away from the rest, as they often did if not kept firmly in focus on a task. There was a sudden comotion from further down the camp and Skorge hurried in that direction along with many others. As he drew closer her heard paniced shouting and excited howls from his warriors. He shoved and cuffed his way through the group and found that they were surrounding a trio of humans. Skorge had never seen humans before except for his vision and these were the same race. They looked much like the dwarves but taller. They wore leather clothes meant for hunters so he assumed that was what they were. The humans were ghostly pale and screaming at these new, horrific monsters that had cought them in the forest. A fouth human was tossed into the ring and Skorge looked up to see Fist standing there with a bloodthirsty grin, having found and captured the humans while out scouting. Skorge had to send out more scouts after that fortess that he had seen as well. He had little interest in the human and he nodded to Fist who smirked and picked one human up I his hand. She looked up and shrieked when she saw what was coming next. Her shrill scream was stopped as her head was crushed by the ogre`s great jaws. The other darkspawn saw this as a sign and threw themselves on the helpless humans with rending fangs anf claws. The last three yelled and screamed as well but was one by one silenced.

Skorge walked on with new determination, they had a goal now. That fortress with its tower was surely out there, where he had seen the horde clash with these humans. There was no need to inform the Master, he knew what all darkspawn knew so he had seen the entire event. Now he had his emissaries issuing orders for the army to march onward, deeper into the Wilds further north. That there were more humans became apparent later. They came upon the firsts small tribes of Chasind wilders a few day later.

_**One week after horde`s arrival on the surface**_

Skorge was currently hunched down in in a bush along with Fists further back, two dozen other hurlocks and ten genlock archers. They had come across another tribe of Chasind and they were currently on a raiding mission. Skorge sat hidden with the hurlocks a bit to the village`s south while Fist had slowly moved to the east. The archers were to the west. These humans had proven to be little or no oppostition and they were easy to rout from a battlefield. With a wave of his hand he ordered the attack to begin. The unknowing humans, who just a second ago were tending to the simple chores of the day, found themselves the targets for the archers who made women and children drop their food baskets and fall with an arrow through their chest. Some of the men had their weapons and others ran to get theirs and now they looked around for their attackers. What they saw was a wave of heavily armored hurlocks, the shock troops of the horde, coming from the trees and bushes, roaring their battle-cries and with Skorge and his heavy two-handed axe over his head at the front line. One man who seemed to be the chieftan pointed and yelled for his men to stand firm and hold. His commands were cut short when the tent next to him collapsed over him and revealed Fist. The ogre had plowed a way through the camp from the easy with many tents and bodies behind him. The remaining men had no time to recover from his sudden appearance before the hurlocks clashed with them. They stood no chance against the fury of the darskapwn as they were cut down. Skorge faced a large man with a sword. The man swung at his head but Skorge dodged and swung his heavy axe in an upward slash that caught the man in the underside of his chin. The skull scattered with an explosion of blood and bone. The rest of the battle lasted only three minutes before the last of the fleeing wilders were cut down by the archers. Skorge glanced around. Were these people the ones he had seen in his vision? No, they couldn`t be. He had seen men and woman who had cut down hurlocks in waves. Those humans had had the taint in them, he had felt that.

Then he felt the same sensation again, like when he had had the vision and he jerked his head back as his eyes went blank.

Now he saw the fortress again, but this time somehwere with in. It was an open stone floored place, a ruin. In the center stood four men and a woman. They all wore armor and Skorge`s inner eyes was attrackted to the older looking one with white clothes and silver armor. He held a chalice with a black liquide within. He chanted something anf handed to thing to one of the men. The younger man drank and collapsed. The second man was killed by the silver armored one when he refused to drink the black fluid. The woman however, steeled herself. There were iron resolve in her eyes as she drank and she too collapsed and later awoke again with the silver armored man and a blond one stood over her.

The vision was crushed when Skorge felt the Master roar through his blood with fury. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Horde enters Ferelden

The horde had been on the surface for a month and half now. It had made camp deep within the Wilds and had remained there for the last two weeks. They sent our raiding parties further north to where most of the wilders and other, newfound, settlements lay. Their camp lay just below a chain of mountains which seemed to stretch to the heavens and they had found no way through yet. No valley or path across was apparent. This had frustrated Skorge to no end. He was sure that many more humans and much more land lay beyond, ripe for the takin by the horde. He had just sent away another party to scout for an entrance, the last of a dozen like it, but had little hope. He took his heavy axe, slung it over his shoulder and left his command tent only to stop just outside the flaps. The darkspawn encampment stretched out and filled his vision, which was not so odd since much of his sight was obscure by trees. He watched as the various species walked back and forth between the forges, tending to equipment or just squatting around with others around tents. They puzzled around like busy ants and Skorge were both satisfied and enraged about the fact that they had such power but none to send them against. The only thing that allowed him to keep his patience and temper in check was the fact that the Master was completely calm, yet still with an expectant undertone to it. Of course Skorge was no proper judge of a god`s emotions but he could make a good guess.

He saw Fist huddling like a watchdog next to the command tent, which was not unexpected. The hurlock and the ogre were now a usual sight togeter in the camp, the latter always following the former around. Skorge smirked at that, having the massive warrior close had its uses. It tended to keep the lesser creatures away and unnerved the other Alphas to a point, probably because it by now was obvious that Fist himself was an Alpha among his kind, judging by his larger size. Skorge had assinged a group of five shrieks to Fist, since they had proved to be quite the battle group. The ogre would easily draw the attention of an opponent and the shrieks would just as easily dispatch the distracted fools. By now Fist and his shrieks had the highest body count in the army, though Skorge was the only one who actually held count. He was distracted from his apprasing thoughts when he heard the scrambling of metal on the rocky ground. He turned around and saw Hily, still in her black plate armor. Standing over a bundle of swords she had dropped in the dirt by accident, which was hardly odd considering that the pile of blades where half her size. She looked positively mortified at her error when a nearby hurlock barked at her in irritation and she quickly hurried to gather up the weapons. She was even more withered now than before. Her cheeks were sunken in deep so that her cheek and jaw bones were clearly visible. The thin dark tendrils which showed the tainted blood in her veins ran like spider web under her skin and her hair were now little more than thin slings of white on her scalp. She looked up at his approach and hunched lower than usual.

"Dark one, do you need anything?" she rasped, sounding much like the hisses the genlocks often made.

"Come with me, I am going north with the last of the search parties and you are coming with me." Skorge replied, not stopping his long strides as he passed her, forcing her to waddle along.

"Me, dark one? Why me?" she asked, with a hint of fright in her subdued voice.

"Because I need you to carry my axe. I won`t tire myself with it on this no doubt long, slow search." Skorge smirket as he draged out the words, making Hily groan silently to herself in misery. They walked through the camp towards the single opening in the camp`s simple barricade, which consisted of thousands of long, spear-like sticks why pointed both away from and against the camp, serving both as a defence and to keep the darkspawn grunts relatively cages, or herded. Skorge had his two kohorts passed the usual ceremonial or tribal poles, markings or other pieces while they passed by. Most of these signs of worship had a couple of darkspawn close by and the largest were often attended by an emissary with hands that glowed with magic, which made Skorge`s blood tremble in his veins. They stopped once they reached the pathway from the camp, which was guarded by a pair of heavily armored ogres. Skorge passed them without a glance and marched on towards a smaller group waiting outside. The group, Skorge`s prepared search party, consisted of the fifty hurlocks he had gathered down in the Deep Roads on his journey to find the Dark Master. He had dismissed the shrieks and genlocks he had travled with, not wanting them in the new group. They now served as his personal unit and he brought them on all his raids and searches away from the main force. He had named the group "The Fang" in honor of their master. The Fang`s hurlocks were all warriors of outstanding strenght and viciousness, heavily armed and armored with the best quality equipment a darkspawn could make. They greeted him with low huffs or silence. That they didn`t let out wary growls spoke volumes about how acustomed they were to his presence by now.

"Follow me, we go now." Skorge barked at them and that was all that was needed for them to do as he said. The troop left the camp area and entered the thick forest to the north, towards the mountains. The forest was completely silent, dead. Their arrival had emptied this place of all life long ago so it was with a quick pace they moved through the woods, though Hily had to strain to keep up with the seeminly tireless darkspawn. Their goal was to reach a narrow passage they had found in the mountainside which led further in. It had been found three days earlier and most of the narrow paths had been explored but a few still remained unscouted. Skorge and his hurlocks would follow one such path. They reached the passage without incident and entered through the cliffs on either side of the way, standing ominously over the darkspawn as they passed. Skorge kept a close watch on hills and outcroping following the length of the path with careful glances. Another search party had been ambushed here two days ago by one of the human tribes they had chased. The chasind had hidden high up and then sent boulders rolling down, crushing the persuers under the rock. He had no idea if the cowards had remained thought he doubted it, but he didn`t rule it out completely.

His hurlocks and Fist showed the rocks the same kind of suspicion all the way through the mountain path. Skorge was surprised that it hadn`t ended in a dead end yet like the others and almost didn`t dare to hope that they had found the one to go all they way through. He clung to the hope however and was rewarded greatly.

The path opened up before them like the gates they had left from the Deep Roads, with wide views and unseen sight, though it was not _that _new. Before them lay more forest, much more. Still it was progress and with a triumphant grin Skorge made his way down the slope down towards the three line. Once there he turned to one of The Fang and ordered him to go back and report the location of the path to the rest of the horde so they could follow. The hurlock in question nodded and ran back with no less speed than with which they had arrived. Skorge watched him go and turned towards the forest. He gave a short huff and a nod forward before entering the tree line along with Fist, Hily and the remaining Fang members. As they advanced deeper Skorge noted that the forest was slowly turning from lush grass land to a mushy swamp. Brown lakes and muddy ground was everywhere along with rotten bushes and sickly trees. They saw few animals, except for a number of wolves, some of which was quite aggressive even if none actually attacked the strange newcomers. The Fang moved in deeper until they began to see old ruins, the first ones they had seen since the Deep Roads. It was obvious that these were not dwarven architecture however. They were large and well made to be sure, but they were also cruder and many half sunken into the mud. Skorge spied one building that might have been a temple of some sort that was oddly tilted from the level of which it had drowned in the muck. They searched the ruin for a minute, finding little indication that the place had been used recently and moved on without delay. Skorge was about to leave through the arced gateway, which was about the only thing that was left besides a few magestic pillars that still held firm against the strain of time. He suddenly heard a shuffle behind him and froze in place before snapping his head around, teeth bared. Looking around he saw nothing at first but…

A sharp mocking laugh chuckled from somewhere within the ruin, but he didn`t see from where. The noise seemed to echo in his head. The laugh persisted until he glimpsed a shadow move behind one of the pillars. With a growl he headed towards it with long strides and was about to turn the corner of the thing when the laugh stopped. He looked around but the shadow was gone. He glanced around suspiciously, he knew he had heard it right. Then the sound came from another pillar. He wasted no time in running over to it but was once again disappointed with nothing. The sound came again and again from various places in the ruin and Skorge`s growls increased in strenght and volume as his rage grew. He finally roared as he ran to the last pillar and his lack of care cost him. A staff hit him hard in the face and he felt a fang fly out with a string of blood as he fell back onto the rocky floor.

His head swam and he shook it violantly to clear it. Glancing up he saw a curious sight. Above him stood a human, a female from the details he had learned about their bodies to distinguish the genders. She had pale, smooth skin, short raven hair and golden eyes, like a apir of shining coins, and just as cold. She wore a crimson cloth that hung from her shoulders to cover part of her torso but not much. She also had a pair of black leggings and a skirt along with feathes and jewelry, some rather fancy while other were made from animal bones. She gave him a smirk as she pointed her staff at her chest.

"My, now this is interesting. Darkspawn in the Korcari Wilds? Mother won`t let me here the end of this." She muttered to herself, making sure to be quiet so not to rouse the other darkspawn outside. Skorge cocked his head at her and rumbled deep in his throat. For that the woman placed her foot on his chest and pressed him down.

"Human." Skorge hissed out and the woman`s mask of coolness faltered momentarily.

"You speak, beast?" she asked but Skorge was once again silent. She only frowned.

"Well then, I will speak instead. Tis no surprise that you are here. A very poweful…entity told of your and your kinds arrival. Can`t say I`m pleased by that…or impressed." She snorted at him. He bared his teeth at her and was stunned for a split second when her lip curled up in respons, just as animalisticly.

"I would suggest that you turn around and go back to your lizard of a master and sneak back to the tunnels you slither around in. This will not end well for you." She hissed before giving him a hard kick to the head so that she, the ruin and the trees went black. Just before he went out he heard her chuckled again but as if from a distance.

….

"Dark one, are you well?" Skorge heard Hily`s raspy voice close by and opened his heavy eyelids with some discomfort. He saw that he was still in the ruin and that the woman was gone. He was on the ground, surrounded by the Fang. Hily squated at his side, looking both worried and confused.

"I am well, I was attacked by a human, a female." He growled, standing up despite his throbbing head. Hily looked puzzled.

"A human, a single human? A female?" she asked. Skorge snapped his jaws at her in frustration.

"She was unlike the other weaklings we have faced. I saw the spirit of the feral beast in her eye, interesting indeed." He pondered.

"If there are others like her nearby, this will be truly be a land worthy of the Master." He said, glad that no emissary was around, since they considered suggesting such a place excisted was heresy. They left the ruins with no further comment and stalked onward. Skorge wanted to find whaterver tribe or settlement that woman had belonged to. They moved onward for hours without a sight of any village but Skorge would often her the woman`s chuckle in the mist and he would sometimes see a grey wolf with the same golden eyes running away just at the edge of his vision, swishing its tail rather teasingly at him, which grinded his temper down until he was ready to explode at anyone who disturbed him further. He was running now, sprinting madly after the wolf.

He saw it at the top of a hill and followed it down and through the woods. One second it was in the distance but then he would round a boulder and it would be just behind the next tree before sprinting ahead again. There were magic involved, he was sure of that. Fist had no problem keeping up with his furious rush and neither had The Fang but Hily trailed slowly after them, panting heavily with the burden of Skorge`s heavy axe on her back. The ground was smoothing out now, becoming less hilly and the trees were now fewer and further between, indicating that they were close to the forests edge. Just as they were about to break out of the forest Skorge stopped them with a raised hand before crouching low in the bush along with the others. Beyond the trees was an open field. Covering it was a settlement, a human village. It had many small wooden houses, villas, shops and taverns. There was an open market square in the centers and the place was buzzling with people. Men carried wood from a mill nearby where even more chopped wood they had gotten from the forest, seeing as a couple of felled trees lay nearby. Children ran around in the street, giggling and chasing each other happily while women walked down to a river stream which ran next to the village, carrying clothes to was and barrels to fill with water. The largest bulding stood right next to the market square. It stood high above the roofs of the villas and it carried a banner with a blazing sun within a ring. It was masterly designed with beautiful arcs and woodcraft that stood in sharp contrast to the buildings around it. Skorge noted that the door of that building was guarded by two humans in shimmering white armor and long swords. These people were clearly different from the wilder tribes they had encountered so far. The chasind all wore leathers, used poorly made equipment and lived in huts, made for traveling. These people wore clothes of cotton woll and even a few with silks, merchants mostly, not to mention those warriors with heavy armor that looked to match those of an Alpha. Their houses were also made od food and stone, indicating a permanent settlement. Maybe this was the home of that strange human. The lure was too strong so Skorge turned to his Fang hurlocks.

"We have new blood in sight brothers, follow me and have your share." He told them, taking his battleaxe from Hily who stared at the village with awe in her blank eyes. Skorge looked over at Fist

"Stay close to me, you and I lead the charge." He said and heard the ogre rumble in approval. With a bloodthirsty grin he stood up to his full hight, threw his head back and roared. The sound made the humans at the edge of the village stop whatever they were doing and looked towards the forest where fifty hurlocks jumped up from their hiding places, howled and charged across the field with their weapons held high. Skorge ran at the forefront but snarled as Fist pulled ahead, making the pebbles of the ground jump repeatedly at his approach. The villagers who saw them screamed in terror at the nightmarish creatures that came from the dark forest like something from an old folklore. They turned and fled once they had gathered their wits enough, shouting at everyone to do the same. The heavily armored men at the large building was not so easily discouraged however. They drw their swords along with a few other like them and ran to the market to form a defence against they no doubt believed were a raid by some bold gang of highway men. Once the darkspawn entered the town and rushed through the street they had formed a loose wall in front of the huge building`s gates. Skorge and his Fang reached the market and saw them. He had to commend them on that they didn`t flee immediately at the sight of them, though he huffed once the knights got a closer look at the attackers and even they stared with wide, paniced eyes. What else, there were only seven of them against the fifty elite hurlocks and an ogre Alpha. This could only end one way but they stood their ground all the same. Skorge raised his battleaxe and charged the knight with the Fangs behind him. Fist had split from them is seemed, having stopped to trash some buildings and a few trapped villagers.

Skorge was the first to reach the line of knights and he brought his axe down heavily on the first of thr armored men. It struck hard on the man´s shield and the tip of the shaft stuck on the shield´s edge. With a powerful heave Skorge pulled the shield away from the knight and it clattered away on the sandy grouns. The knight didn`t have a second to spare before the axe came at him again. He was fast however and raised his sword, striking the axe aside and lunged for Skorge`s chest. The hurlock growled and jumped aside, letting the knight`s momentum carry him forward before raising his axe again and choping down on the head. The helmet the man wore buckled under the blow and he fell to the ground with a heavy thud and clatter, blood coming from the eye-slits in the helmet.

When Skorge looked up the knights and Fangs were fully engaged. He saw that two more knights were down along with the one he had slain but they were joined by five dead hurlocks. Skorge threw himself at a knight just as she decapitated a hurlockand tackled her. Her smaller frame was to enough to take his charge and they both tumbled to the ground with the woman taking most of the landing. With angry growls Skorge tore at her helmet while she struggled to get him off, punching desperatly at his chest and face. He managed to remove the helmet to reveal a horrified face. Skorge grinned before leaning down and closing his jaws on her neck. She tried to scream but it came out as a gurgle. Once her frantic twitching was over he stood up from the body to find that the battle was over. All seven knights were dead and twelve Fangs. These were definetly not the same people they had face before. He rallied the hurlocks, searched for and found Fist with his giant hands pounding a house and led them away into the forest from where they had come.

They made the long way back in a few hours, this time without any sight of that strange golden eyed woman from the forest. They returned to the mountain passage in time to see that roughly a fourth of the horde was through already, setting up the new camp. Skorge watched as his Fangs with Fist and Hily settled in.

He was about to join them when the stinging sensation of a vision about to happen. His head snapped back once again as his eyes went blank.

This one was different, it was like he was standing there instead if flashing images. He saw…the darkspawn making their way through the forest, their torches lighting their way. He saw it all from a high cliff from a long distance. He wondered what this meant when he heard movement to his right. When he turned to look he leapt when he saw silver amored human from his last vision standing there, the one with the taint in him. The bearded human didn`t seem to have noticed him though, he only stared out over the cliff towards the horde with a grim expression. There was a shuffle behind them and Skorge saw that there were many dead humans laying behind them on the ground. Some wore armor and had clearly been killed by arrows and blades. The closest one lay on his back with a darkspawn sword still stuck in his chest. The shuffle had been caused by two hurlocks who were sneaking up on the human. They moved with perfect stealth but once they got close he snapped to action as if they had let out loud battle-cries. He turned just in time to grab the wrist of the first as he lunged at the human with a dagger. Letting the hurlock move with his momentum the human threw him down to the ground, while at the same time wrenching the dagger from his hand. He turned to face his second attacker just in time as the darkspawn charged with raised sword. The silver armored human slashed upward, hitting the hurlock in the neck and sending him sprawling to the ground. The human kneeled down and stabbed the dagger into the hurlock`s chest and left it in before turning to push the first one down the cliff with a shove of his foot. Skorge watched the whole thing, impressed. He then watched as the human glanced at the horde one last time before leaving with a grim set of his jaw, determination in his eyes.

Skorge snapped out of it as fast as it had come and entered the camp, shaking his head slowly. Later he would find out that two hurlocks were missing from one of the search parties.

"_Wolves probably_." Skorge thought, not really convincing himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Ostagar

**Author`s note: First I want to give my thanks and appreciation to those who have reviewed and given me some really awesome comments and boosts for my writing, I was hardly expecting them, believe me. Shout outs and thanks to Erynnar, Jozern and Crazy-Obsessed-Potter-Chick, hope you guys keep on reading:) Also I want to explain a couple of things. In the next few chapters(like this one for example) and maybe a few later on I will implement the things that happens to the warden when she happens to be nearby to what Skorge is doing or the other way around. I understand that this might confuse some readers since Skorge is meant to be in focus but I thought it would be nice to see a couple of things from the original characters viewed from the darkspawn`s side as well. Also please excuse my terrible grammar. I type fast and sometimes miss a letter or writes a word twice or misspells, you know how it is. I`ll try to fix any faults if I see them.**

_**One month after Skorge`s attack on the Ferelden village. **_

To say that the Master was pleased by the discovery of the human village by the Fang would be an understatement. He had given Skorge his approval and let it go out across the horde vigorously. Skorge had then suggested that they move the army further up to gain a better foothold then the scattered plain they now inhabited. The Master had agreed and let his Supreme Commander take the horde further north. The sight of the many tens of thousands of darkspawn moving through the woods had been magnificent indeed as they made the ground shake under them. They marched along the mountainside in hope that they might encounter other towns but had no such luck. Skorge stopped them after about two days of marching to scout ahead into unknown territory with two of his Fang hurlocks as his only companions. They had gone about three miles from the horde`s outermost line when they spotted something that had Skorge both worried and excited. They hid behind a low hill and lay on their bellies at the top as they watched a road which led into the Wilds, on which marched a company of heavily armed humans, about thirty of them. They marched in a loose square and were led by a man on horseback, wearing nicely made armor. They all wore quality armor and weapons, much better than the ones they had fought so far. As they passed the three darkspawn two more groups like it, along with wagons of tents and equipment, followed them into the forest and towards the mountain some ways off. Once they had passed and were some distance off Skorge came out of the bush, staring after the humans. This could get interesting indeed. With a command to his minions they snuck after the human cohorts without being seen as they made their way deeper into the forest.

Apparently their attack on the human village had drawn attention, considering these soldiers presence here. He wondered if these were all there were. The three groups of soldiers, with thirty in each, numbered no more than ninety men in total, not nearly enough to halt even the horde`s advance force, and certainly not challenge the bulk of the army itself. They skulked after the humans until they came to a small field next to the mountain and next to that…a fortress, the very fortress he had seen in all his three visions.

Skorge looked up in awe at the stone construction before them. It stood almost as a gateway over a small natural entrance valley. Even though it was nothing but ruins now it was obvious that it had once been great, greatness that was not completely gone. It still stood tall with its two main buildings at either side of the cliff face and connecting bridge stretching between them. On the east side stood a high tower, looking down upon the world below its mighty vigil. At the base below the bridge, in the narrow path leading onward, had the humans marched to. Now Skorge saw that a camp had already been established. The company they had been following now joined the humans already here with loud cheers of welcome. Skorge couldn`t determine from here but he saw that there was at least a few more hundred human soldiers here.

"An army." He mumbled. They must have gathered in response to their raid. He had to go back to the army and prepare for this. He sent his two Fangs back to the horde and remained by himself to scout a bit more. He gave them orders to alert the others. They ran off with the same tireless speed as always while he remained crouched in the foliage.

He watched as the humans set up tents of various sizes and colors, along with banners, shops and stock areas. He even saw them erect a small den where they kept some sort of short yet bulky, four-legged creature. They were all fangs and muscle and fur he saw as they were fed meat while letting out happy barks. Those might be a problem to deal with.

He also saw more human soldiers arrive, many of them. They had soon mustered a good number and the certainty of victory Skorge had allowed himself was gone by now. Last came the largest single croup of human soldiers he had ever seen into the field. They were obviously heavy shock troops by their armor and heavy weapons. At the head rode two men. One was tall and had the air of authority about him. He wore bulky silver shinning plate armor and his pale skin stood in sharp contrast to his long black hair. Next to him rode a man Skorge recognized. It was the gold-armored human from his first vision he had had of this place. Even though he wore fancier looking armor than the other man, he lacked the sense of…dominion, of command that his older peer had. The gold armored human, with his long blonde hair and a face which showed that he had not yet experienced true battle, smiled and laughed as he saw the grand army now in front of him. As the two men rode into the camp the column of soldiers behind them were still coming out of the forest and into the field. There must have been an additional thousand in just that group. After that there came no more men for the remainder of the day and Skorge had counted them to be about half of the horde`s number. That was dangerous when they held such a position to defend and he cursed the fact that he hadn`t found it first. Once night settled in the humans had begun to fortify the place with barricades and some of the largest tents had been moved up to camp within the fortress itself while the majority of the soldiers remained in the valley. This would be difficult.

…..

When Skorge later returned to the darkspawn lines it was with loud roaring commands to break camp and move onward. He had been granted an audience with the Master by the ever suspicious emissaries to report, though it was no need really. The Master had a divine way of knowing exactly what every darkspawn under his rule knew. With quite a bit of grandeur he had ordered Skorge to remove the obstacle the humans represented. Skorge could only nod and return to his tent to pack up his equipment, which really meant that Hily would pack. They then broke the massive camp and marched on. Skorge could only imagine the humans once they realized the power that had been unleashed upon them. After spending the day marching, and routing a few terrified human scouts, they settle about ten miles away from the fortress and made camp. In between the two armies lay mostly swampy forest and the road that led to the fortress which the humans had used to get there.

"Time to introduce ourselves!" Skorge said as he gathered his Fang to him and marched away from the camp, followed by many other darkspawn.

_**Three weeks after first contact between the horde and the Ferelden army**_

The peace, or relative peace, in the darkspawn camp was suddenly broken by a howl of rage coming from Skorge`s command tent. The darkspawn directly around the tent glanced at it nervously while tending to whatever they were doing. A gunlock runner came scurrying from the tents flaps with a bleeding chest as he ran away. The roars continued for some time after that. The source was Skorge, the infuriated commander of the so far unsuccessful campaign against the human army. Three times had they faced each other in open battle and three times the darkspawn had been beaten. Skorge had of course been in those battles and in each he had spotted the pale skinned, black haired commander from that first day when the enemy arrived in the distance. He was clearly their general and a good one, which was now very clear.

The first battle had been unexpected on Skorge`s part. As soon as they had arrived in this part of the forest they had been attacked by a human force. When the horde traveled it was inevitable that it would grow more and more widespread in groups as it went. Some of these had gone ahead of the others and entered the valley long before the main force. Either because the humans had yet to find out the horde`s true numbers or because of impatience they had sprung their trap too soon for the darkspawn to be completely enveloped. As the long line of the advance force walked along the road through the forest the humans had attacked from both sides, charging out from the woods with arrows flying ahead of them. The effect was like slamming two metal clubs against the sides of an enemy´s head at the same time. The line collapsed quickly into unorganized fighting, which the humans dominated due to their compact formation. Skorge had not been in that group but a bit behind it. Once he understood what was happening he had ordered the main army to charge into the fray. He personally led the first wave along with Fist and his Fang as they crashed into the humans flank, slowly turning the fighting to their advantage as more of their numbers poured in. The fighting had been long and quite even as it went back and forth. Skorge had been in the middle of the melee, striking with his battle axe and taking a few bad hits himself. Once he had gained a respite from the fighting he had seen a glint of gold in the distance and when he peered in that direction he had seen the gold-armored human surrounded by a bodyguard, clearly itching for a chance to get in on the fighting. The guards around him seemed to prevent that from happening however as the black haired commander stayed close as well. The commander looked on with a grim face and he gestured to a couple of men close to him once the darkspawn got a bit too close to the royal bodyguard and a horn sounded. The humans had turned and fled back through the trees and towards the fortress. Skorge had wished to persue them but stopped himself. His force was battered and too few of them were ready for another battle so soon.

Technically that had been a victory, they had driven the humans back and their advance continued. But then he had taken a body count and realized that it might as well have been a defeat. His entire advance force was dead and he had lost half of his fifty Fangs in the effort to drive the enemy away. He would have to replenish their numbers with the best of the surviving hurlocks from that fight. He had let the horde lose upon the battlefield and by the next day not a single human body remained in the mud and the grass.

The second battle had been slightly more successful. That one had been initiated by Skorge when his runners had discovered the patrol routes of the human army. For three day he had set small ambushes along those paths and intercepted the patrols, which served both to take out a few dozen of their soldiers but also to make them blind as to the darkspawns locations and movements in the forest. This had allowed Skorge to move a portion of the army closer to the enemy camp at night and had his best genlock archers take out as many of the camp`s sentries as they could. The plan would have been perfect had it not been for a new treat. Once the outer watchmen had been dealt with his had been about to order the main attack. His grand victory had been deprived off him however when he saw a fully prepared human force charge out from the camp to meet them among the trees in the dark. It was only after the vicious fighting that ensured, and the retreat he had to order once the whole human army came at them, that he learned that the prepared force had been led by a group of warriors that had fought with unmatched skill. He had even seen one of them close by in the fighting and he realized that these were the warriors he had seen in his vision, the ones with the taint of his kind in their blood. Everything was drawing closer to that vision it seemed; the fortress, the gold-armored human and now these strange fighters.

The third battle had followed the next day in fact, where the tainted humans led a raiding party close to the darkspawn camp in a coordinated attack to take out darkspawn commanders. Many Alphas and Emissaries had fallen in that last fight and Skorge had taken an arrow to the shoulder. He had made the archer pay dearly before the humans fell back in an organized retreat.

This was the reason for his current rage. He lay on a bedroll on the ground in his tent, trying not to squirm as Hily worked on removing the arrow in his shoulders. She was no healer so to say that the procedure was painful as she worked it back and forth would be an understatement. His anger also sprang from these losses and what it had cost. Great numbers of darkspawn lay dead and to get an outlet for his fury he had erected a ring of sharpened poles in the center of the camp on which he had placed the heads of the darkspawn commanders he had executed for their incompetence. An odd thing was that the Master had taken an interest in the archer he had killed, who had turned out to be one of the tainted humans. The dragon had asked Skorge to come to him with the body as soon as the arrow was out.

With gritted teeth Hily pulled hard and the arrow came out with a wet, tearing sound. Skorge growled in pain and shoved her away as he sat up. The dead human lay against the tents wall, ready to be taken away.

"Call for someone to come and carry it." He told her and pointed to the human. Hily looked a bit nervous as she looked down and didn`t move.

"Um is the Dark One going to see the Master, m-maybe Hily could take human there instead, she wants to see His glory herself." She mumbled enthusiastically. Skorge sprang up and marched over to her, grabbing her collar and shoving her to the ground. His injury had taken all his patience. Hily whimpered where she lay curled up.

"You are a maggot, a lowlife maggot crawling on your belly in the dirt. Are you suggesting I show the Master a maggot?" he growled. Hily shook her head with loud sobs and shivers a she hugged her sides. She was the image of misery. Skorge felt no pity as he had a genlock drag the body to the hill where the Master rested. He put the body at the base of the hill and sent the little darkspawn away before kneeling down, his head bowed.

"I have brought the human as you requested Master." He said in a deep monotone. The giant dragon turned his head to look first at Skorge and then the body. Snaking his head down he sniffed it for a second and then gazed at the hurlock.

"It seems it is time I tell you about the Grey, Commander. They are great warriors drawn from all of the surface races who`s only purpose it to stand in our way. They represent the single most significant threat to us. This man was one such Grey warden." He said, his voice loud in Skorge`s head.

"Then I shall slay them all myself."

"Don`t be foolish. The wardens are not to be underestimated or taken lightly." The Master`s voice was tinged with irritation. Skorge bowed his head lower in response.

"I am returning to the deep tunnels to gather more of our followers to the surface. I trust you to take what remains here and take that Fortress." The dragon said. Skorge felt a shudder of nerves run along his spine. His force still outnumbered the humans but so far they had been unsuccessful in their battle. He would never admit to the Master that he would not be able to, nor did he think he would be. He nodded

"Yes Master, it will be done."

…..

The next day the Master flew off into the sky and back over the mountains they had come from. All the assembled Emissaries then turned to him and he felt a momentary pang of being overwhelmed by it all. He would have to lead them now, get them past that fortress. He would need a plan and so he decided to scout ahead by himself after sending out the scout parties around the human camp as usual. He went dangerously close himself as he snuck up on the ridge where one of the fortress`s main buildings were, towards another road that led all the way back out from the forest and out to the plains beyond, hoping to get a good view of a possible way up there. He had no such luck, finding no path that was easily accessible by a large number of warriors at a reasonably fast pace. He scouted the road leading into the ruin for three hours, the morning slowly coming about. The forest was silent beside a few distant birds. The sun shone through the leaves and the branches, creating spotlights all over the ground where he sat hidden. He was determined to find a way past this place. He didn`t want to think of the fate that awaited him of he let the Master`s campaign end already.

Then he felt an odd sensation. It was like his blood was being tickled by ants or ran through his veins at a very fast speed. It was slowly starting to burn as well, heating up from the inside. He started scratching his arms and legs in irritation and was about to jump up when he saw someone coming on the road. He hunched down low and peered through a bush. He stared in shock when he saw the two humans coming down the road some ways off.

The first one he noticed was the male. He was the white clothed, dark skinned man he had seen in his visions, one of the grey wardens. He wore the same light armor, which consisted of a chest piece along with a pair of plates for the shoulders, arms and legs along with a few belts for knives and small bags, beard and weapons like he had seen before. He was talking with the shorter woman walking beside him in an earnest tone about something Skorge could not make out. The man had an aura of experience and subtle confidence the Hurlock could admire and even respect. It was clear in the way he carried himself that he had a great burden on him but also the discipline to lift it. The woman in the other hand was different. She too wore leather armor but of less noticeable quality, probably made for hunting. On her hips she carried a dagger and over her back hung a longsword, of much better make than the rest of her equipment. Her blond hair was just long enough that it rested lightly on her strong shoulders and her green eyes held the same easy-going smile as he lips. She too had a confidence about her but unlike the man she let it radiate from her clearly for all to bask in it. Behind her trotted the same kind of furry beast he had seen several of in the camp already, following close behind its mistress.

The Hurlock gripped the handle of his battle axe tightly, considering if he should try an attack on the pair. In his vision he had seen some of the man`s skills and he knew not what the woman was capable of. Besides, the fight might attract more humans from the camp, and he was not that foolish. So he let his grip relax as the two humans passed him. Just as they did, the white clothed human seemed to hesitate a step and frowned, unease written in his features. The itch in Skorge`s blood intensified a little as the human man glanced around. Could he feel the darkspawn sitting there as well? Skorge didn`t dare to try an escape while they stood there so he waited, holding his breath. For a moment nothing moved or made a sound. The bush Skorge hid behind waved in the wind, giving off a sweet scent of new leaves.

When nothing happened, and the girl asked her male companion what was wrong, he shrugged and moved onward again, though with a stiffer walk this time. He heard them talk as they entered the ruin and disappeared around a corner. He decided to dare a closer look so he went alongside the road to the outer wall of the ruin which the two had just passed. His metal dubbed boots clanked on the stone floor and he was briefly worried that it might have been noticed as he ducked behind the wall, peering past the edge. The white clothed human and the woman was now talking with the gold armored human, whom Skorge had figured to be the leader of the human army considering how he had seen the other humans interact with him during the campaign so far. He watched them shake hands, introduce each other and talk about the battles so far. Skorge gritted his teeth when the king voiced his doubts about the darkspawn threat being a true "Blight." Skorge had no idea what that meant, all he knew was that the gold armored man didn`t take them seriously, something he would regret, that Skorge promised.

Soon the king left the man and the women with a sigh and turned his back to return to the camp beyond the bridge. The older man stopped to speak with the woman a little before taking her beast with him across the bridge while she remained, apparently to gather herself. Skorge dared to sneak inside the wall and crouch behind a bush at the base of a small slope within that led from the side of the road to the edge of the ruin where a few soldiers were keeping watch. He was in dangerous territory now but the female intrigued him. He had seen her survive where others did not, and she had faced the danger with a hard determination he could admire.

He watched now as the blond woman watched her two companions leave her there. She then drew a deep breath which made her leather armor heave slowly. He swore he could almost hear the intake of air from where he sat. She then glanced around curiously before taking a slow walk around the area, inspecting every corner and edge of the ruin with fascination in her bright green eyes. At one point she came extremely close to his hiding spot. She had walked by the bushes and suddenly came to a stop. He nose wrinkled, as if she smelled something foul before walking off again. She seemed bored after a minute or so and walked towards the bridge to follow the man and the beast. Skorge watched her go and waited for about ten more minutes before silently sneaking away. He wanted to keep watch but there were no chance he would get across that chasm without being seen. So instead he went back the way he had come and entered the forest below. Prowling in a wide arc along the three line of the field below he made his way to the other side of the valley and towards the second part of the fortress where a small camp were arranged. Once he had made his way up the slope he saw that a thick barricade had been erected in front on the only entrance, which led to a natural path into the swamp below. He knew that one of their scouting parties had made camp further ahead to guard against human patrols returning from their rounds. As he looked for a good spot from which he could look into the camp the wooden doors suddenly swung open. Jumping down behind a pair of fallen logs he tried to press himself as far down as he could into the soft, wet mud as he could, once again cursing that he had chosen to wear his armor for this as it made quite a bit of sound as he slammed into the ground.

Out came the same woman from before, along with the three men from his vision. The one walking next to the blond woman was equally blond and wore splint mail armor and carried a sword along with a shield on his back. The third had short black hair and a sly grin as his eyes seemed to wander between the path ahead and the woman`s swaying backside in front of him, though she did not seem aware of the attention the male was giving her. That man carried a short bow in his hand. The last man was not impressive in the least, despite the fact that he was the one who was the most armored. His balding head snapped from side to side at every sound and he looked positively jumpy, his greatsword apparently of little comfort to him. They advanced along the downward slope into the marshy swamp until they were out of sight around a broad hill topped with trees and Skorge realized that it was likely that would come across the scouting party. Interesting…

Skorge stood from his place behind the logs and ran to the hill, climbing it in a few quick strides before throwing himself down again flat on his belly to watch the scene in front of him. Just beyond the hill was the path the humans had taken which led into a marsh with more hills, scattered groups of dying trees and pools of filthy water. His eyes were immediately drawn to a decimated caravan further ahead. The overturned wagons, some of which were on fire, had spilled their content over the ground and much of it was broken. The oxen that had been dragging the things lay dead in the mud as well; the swamp flies already getting to their work of feeding upon he bloody hides. Along with these were about half a dozen dead soldiers, the victims of his warriors no doubt. They all wore the armor of the human army and it was apparent that the fight had been resent, as the blood on both them and the animals were fresh enough for Skorge to smell it from where he lay. He knew that his brethren would have ambushed the patrol, scavenged what they could and then pulled back further away to regroup for a second attack should the opportunity arise.

He saw the humans he was following stand among the wagons, looking at something on the ground and talking lowly. The woman turned to the blond man who removed some sort of white cloth from a bag on his hip which he handed to the woman. A burning wagon prevented Skorge from seeing what was happening as she knelt down and then stood up again after a few moments, now helping one of the soldiers who had been on the ground to his feet. He held his now bandaged chest as he waddled off back the way the others had come.

Narrowing his eyes Skorge peered through the flames and saw that the balding man looked increasingly nervous now, though the blond woman answered his babbling with an even tone and an adventurous grin. During that time Skorge had decided to move around to get a better look. He slowly rose from the hill and snuck down and around it, spotting the stone wall of a ruin, which was all that was left of it by the way, and ran over to it. As he moved he heard surprised shouting and blades leaving their scabbards, mixed with the battle cries of hurlocks. Skorge guessed that the humans had met the scouting party, some of them anyway, and engaged as he jumped over a fallen log and pressed himself against the moss covered stone wall. When he heard another howl, this one of pain, he glanced around the corner and saw that he had been right. The woman and her group had engaged a pair of hurlocks and a trio of genlock archers who had taken up position on a hill. The howl had likely come from the genlock now on the ground, an arrow sprouting from his chest. The other two tried to find targets but the two hurlocks had engaged the woman and the blond knight. The man`s face was a mask of calm and his skills were impressive, using his shield for fast blocks and striking out whit long arcs of his sword. The hurlock he was fighting was armed in the same way and the two traded furious blows. The black haired man had been the one to fire the arrow that had killed the gunlock and he was now busy knocking a second one onto the bowstring while the balding man was glancing around for more attackers.

The woman dueled the second hurlock. She held her sword in a two handed grip, using the blade for both attack and defense as she moved with incredible speed and agility. She became a blur as she slashed, stabbed and spun on her heel, all the while maintaining a vicious grin. The hurlock she fought was to slow to keep up with her pace as fell with a shrill howl and a bleeding neck which he clutched desperately as blood flowed between his fingers. The woman stared down at the body for a few seconds until a shout from her companion drew her attention to the second fight. The knight had a little more difficulty in taking down his hurlock. The taller creature hacked away at his shield furiously, forcing him to step back several feet before he finally lost grip of his shield. It dropped to the ground, only making a wet crunch as it hit the wet mud. The blonde man looked up at his attacker and tried a desperate slash at his rotten head. The blow was deflected by the hurlock`s own shield which he then suddenly threw away with a growl. His sword followed shortly before he reached out, grabbed the knight`s armor by the collar and delivered a brutal head-butt to his face, making the blonde man drop to the ground.

"Alistair!"

Skorge heard the woman shout and then saw her race forward with drawn dagger. When she came up behind the darkspawn she plunged the weapon into his back, making him fall to his knees with a shrill howl. A kick to the back sent him forward face first into the mud. She then knelt down and helped her dazed companion to a sitting position while the black haired man killed the last remaining genlock with his last arrow. The man referred to as Alistair gave his female comrade a small smile, almost a grin.

"Don`t worry, I`ve had worse, believe me." The man said with a tone that sounded positively flustered, making the woman smirk in turn. She helped him up while he held his sore nose with his free hand, groaning at the pain that now really seemed to be setting in.

Skorge had seen enough, he had to get ahead and stop these humans. For that he would need some reinforcements and he guessed that the rest of the scouting party would be but a short distance away from where the little battle had occurred. Bush, mud a water crunched and splashed as he ran along the path.

He met several scattered groups of darkspawn and told them to be ready for the humans arrival whenever he found them. He noted that his warriors had erected sharp, bloody poles topped with the heads and limbs of dead human soldiers along with the bodies that he spotted dangling from tree branches and smirked at the sight of it. He came across the main group after crossing a short bridge that stretched over a small stream. The group consisted of the party's leader, a hurlock Emissary surrounded by a pack of genlocks wearing armor that was meant to hide them in the foliage. He told the darkspawn mage to hide them and prepare to spring the ambush as soon as the humans crossed that bridge. The Emissary nodded affirmatively before sending his minions to set up traps in the ground and get into their hiding spots. Skorge glanced around and saw a much larger ruin than the others further ahead up a wide hill slope. He decided to that was where he would make his stand if the woman and her companions came so he ran there, meeting four hurlocks with bows at the entrance to the ruin. With a brisk command he told them to be ready while he entered the ruin to take a look.

It was obvious that it had once been a grand building, at least as grand as you could hope to find in a murky swamp. It was a wide circle shaped building which seemed to have been split in two at the center, where one of the circle`s halfs rose above the other, connected by a wide set of stairs. It made Skorge think of a place made for worship, since it was easy to imagine an altar on the higher part of the room, beyond the stairs. Most of the walls were long gone and covered with moss and dirt. Skorge`s eyes were drawn to a chest next to the western wall, which was all gone. It was of fine woodcraft and he might have admired it had it not been that it was smashed open, showing an empty inside. He was about to take a closer look at it when his attention was jerked back to the door by a warning howl from one of the hurlocks outside, followed by bowstrings pinging as they were fired.

Skorge bared his teeth in anticipation as he realized that the humans had arrived and he turned to run back to the gateway, drawing the sword he had chosen to take on the original scouting mission, which had now somehow turned into this. When he left the ruin it was to find the same humans he had spotted before coming charging up the hill while his four warriors fired down at them. Skorge guessed that the blond woman and her party had defeated the others in their way, if the black blood on them were any indication. His gaze was drawn to the woman, almost magnetically.

Her eyes were wild, as was her grin and swinging hair, which was also soaked with the black liquid that covered her armor. Her sword was in her hands in a two-handed grip as she held it high above her head. She sprinted ahead of her male comrades with a war-cry. Her entire appearance screamed out battle lust. Skorge was obliged to meet her. He gripped his own sword tightly and picked up a shield from one of the other darkspawn`s feet, where he had likely placed it so he could use the bow. He then let out a furious roar in response to the woman`s cry and ran to meet her head on.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Noble and the Alpha

**Author`s note: Sorry this chapter came a little late and because it's a little again for the cool reviews and comments. Something I wanted to remark is that since they have redesigned the darkspawn races in DA2 and the DLC Legacy I just want to say that in my head and as they are described in this story the darkspawn here have the same design as in Origins. I like the original ones better because if you ask me the hurlocks looked a bit too human for my tastes in DA2. They looked good and I liked it, don`t get me wrong on that but I just prefer the old ones. That Skorge is getting these visions is just as way to make him more unique and also works to integrate parts of the universe which might have some significance to the plot. **

The wet grass splattered under Skorge`s heavy boots as he sprinted towards the woman. The forest was silent besides their two war-cries, both fighting to be heard over the other. Their weapons were held high and their gazes firmly locked as they closed the distance rapidly between them. They were ten feet apart when arrows started to fly above their heads from both sides, coming from both the four hurlocks and the black haired man. Skorge didn`t see the woman`s other two companions, they had likely dived for cover or simply charged out of his line of sight, which was not very wide through the slits of his helmet. He raised his axe as they closed the last few steps and she held up her sword as if to block. Instead of meeting the blow, which there was no chance she would have been able to hold, she jumped to the side in a spin. The large shaft of the battle axe sunk harmlessly into the ground and almost stuck there due to the wet, muddy soil. Skorge had barely enough time to pull it free before the woman slashed at his neck, one of the few parts of his body that was not covered by the armor. He managed to duck under the blade and as he rose up he pulled with all his might at the same time, making the axe pop free of the ground with a wet, sucking sound.

He swept the axe in a wide arc across his chest to his flank where she stood. It was a desperate swing, meant to create some distance between himself and his opponent, and easily avoided by the woman but it had the desired effect. The blonde had to jump back to duck the giant shaft and a berth was made between the two fighters. The short beginning of their duel had only taken about four seconds and flowed with a certain grace. The woman was fast. He had seen her fight before when she had come into the swamp and he knew that she was deadly with both her sword and shorter dagger.

He advanced on her slowly and held the axe low across his waist, ready to either parry or strike. She responded by holding her sword in a two handed grip in front of her, pointing the tip towards him while she back-paddled away from his advance. Skorge slowly built up his pace to a sprint and was upon her again in a few long strides. The woman was too slow to avoid the impact and was tackled to the ground with a loud thud. Skorge smirked inside his helmet and raised his axe above his head for the killing blow.

"Oi…uh blight-face." The shout was accompanied by loud clanking sounds and when Skorge turned her saw the human referred to as Alistair earlier beating his sword against his shield while staring with wide eyes at him. Skorge smirked, gave the woman on the ground a kick in the ribs, making her roll over onto her back and then turned to the man. He growled and crouched down in front of the blonde man and then threw himself forward, almost a dive. The man had no chance of stopping the sheer weight of the hurlock and flew back into a dirty pool of water with a splash face first. He had only enough time to spit some water out before he found himself rising again, but not on his own accord.

Skorge had grabbed hold on the straps of his armor and hauled him from the ground with a grunt and brought the man to his feet. Then he shoved the man backwards straight into the stone wall of the ruin next to which they were fighting. He heard the gush of air as the wind was knocked out of the man and with a great heave he lifted the man, armor and all, up from the ground and against the fall with little visible effort. Alistair`s feet dangled half a feet from the ground as he stared into the dark slits of Skorge`s helmet.

"How do you do?" he said with a nervous smile. That made Skorge cock his head a little and in the brief pause something sharp drilled through his armor and into his back. He threw his head back in shock at the unexpected pain and something wet ran down his back, blood.

Glancing back he was surprised to see the woman standing behind him with a smirk and her dagger jammed into his back. She held her ribs where he had kicked her gingerly with her off hand. He tried to reach back and grab her but he now moved with sluggish slowness and his wound started to itch and burn with maddening intensity. There was an itch, tingling buzzing spreading through his arm, legs and the back of his skull. She drew the dagger back out with a gush of black blood and he grunted at the new pain, it hurt a lot more going out than it had going in. He lost his grip on that man and fell to his knees.

His vision became blurry and he couldn't quite make out any solid form, just flurries of green, grey and a blue sky as he fell back onto his back with a wet splash. He had a moment to wonder what had been on that dagger, some sort of poison? His eyesight went black as his eyelids became heavy. He faintly heard the clang of metal as the humans engaged the other hurlocks with short grunts and shouts mixed with bestial growls.

The last things his senses picked up was the smell of blood inside his helmet, oozing from his mouth, the sound of the woman giving a short laugh of victory and the sight of a strange, gold-eyed owl sitting on a branch in a nearby pine tree, looking down at him with a cocked head. It seemed familiar somehow, those eyes. Then his world went dark, but not before his head reverberated with the same dark chuckle that he had heard from that strange black-haired woman from before.

…..

When he again awoke it was with the sensation of a something pushing on his chestplate and the sound of a low hiss.

"Dark one." It said and Skorge`s eyes fluttered open. Above him squatted Hily. Her face now looked like a polished skull that someone had dragged some skin over to make it look alive. She no longer wore armor due to that her skeletal form could no longer carry the weight of it, her once well-toned warrior muscles long gone from the dark corruption within her. Instead she wore the same rags of cloth and leather the gunlocks wore. She let out a sigh of relief when his head rolled over to look at her.

"You get live! Good, very good. The Master will be pleased." She said.

Skorge snarled. He had faced a soon to be warden…and lost. No, the master would not be pleased by that. His blood heated to a boil and his clawed gauntlets dug tiny trenches in the mud as they twitched in response. He weakly turned his head and saw the other four hurlocks laying slain on the ground not far from him, two with arrows piercing their bodies, one with a hole in his chest and the last without his head, which he later spotted sitting near the doorway into the ruin. Oh she would pay, yes she would.

"When you did not come back I went it search for you Dark one, I needed to make sure you…" Hily`s speech was cut off as his hand shot up from the ground and squeezed her throat, slowly crushing the windpipe. The hand closed its hold tighter as new thoughts raked his mind. He would wait no longer. The humans would be crushed, slaughtered and devoured by nightfall; he would make sure of that. Only then might the Master forgive him for his recent losses once He return. The female Warden however, was his alone.

"Dark one…" the pitiful dwarf mumbled weakly and with a powerful jerk her almost visible neck was snapped by the Hurlock`s mighty fist. The crack echoed in the silence of the forest along with a sigh from Hily, her last breath leaving the body. She fell back into the mud with an indignant splatter of dirty mud and lay still. Skorge weakly crawled onto his belly, rose to his hands and knees but finally and with difficulty he made it to his feet. He graced the once proud warrior of the Legion with a look and looked at the half-smile of peace upon her cold, cracked lips.

He stared at the body for a moment, and then left the ruin behind in a sprint fueled by anger and a desire for vengeance. He found it difficult at first. Some of the woman`s poison lingered and he often staggered and almost fell on several occasions due to his vision blurring or his muscles giving out for short periods. These effects would give in time but he still had to spit out new blood from his mouth once in a while when it rose up from his guts. When he ran into a clearing he noted that the sun was setting, the large disk of fire almost sitting on the horizon now and coloring the sky a deep orange dotted with a few scattered dark clouds through the tree tops. He reached the human fortress again, running along the tree line on the far side of the field that separated the opening of the cliffs and the forest with about 200 meters. He saw that the human camp was stirring to alertness as fires were lit in preparation for the coming darkness. He stopped when he spotted something odd in the wall of the lower part of the building, the one that stood on the actual ground, wedged between the cliff and the tree line. The stones were cracked and a few holes were even visible. He followed that part of the stonework up along the fortifications with a grin. If there was a way to get up to the ridge above through there…

He let those thoughts grow in his mind as he ran the last distance to where his horde was camped. They also had torches ready and he was satisfied to see that most were present from the size he saw. He ran in among them, his blood still pumping with excitement and bloodlust as he called on the alphas and the emissaries to rouse their forces for a march against the humans. Once he had relayed his intentions they all roared in approval and spread out across the tents and equipment to give the commands. Three hours later the horde stood ready and waiting in front of him as Skorge perched on a small hill with Fist as the foot and his Fangs spread out around it. With an vicious roar he raised his axe to them. No words were needed, they would fight and kill and die at his word. The hurlocks stood tall and raging as they slammed their weapons against shields or waved them in the air as they roared. The genlocks were worked into a frenzy as they hissed madly and scurried around the taller darkspawn. The shrieks normally smooth motions were now jerky and twitchy in excitement they could barely contain while the ogres flexed their hands and bared their choppers in anticipation.

For some reason Skorge felt like speaking none the less and raised his voice above the sounds if the army.

"Come with me brothers, come and taste the blood and flesh and bones of humans. Come and fight with me. **Come with me.**"

With that he turned and in a now almost calm walked moved towards the north and the fortress of the humans. The ground and trees trembled as thousands of feet marched behind him. Many of them carried torches now as well. Fist thundered along beside him and his elite Fang around him and behind…a sea of living darkness crawled through the forest. As he walked at the head he called an alpha over and explained what he had seen of the weak point in the fortress wall and told him to take his tribe through it if possible. The officer nodded sharply with a bloodthirsty growl and waved his warriors off to the flank. Skorge understood that the humans would use the bridge of the fortress for oversight and likely archers as well. If he got his force up there the fortress would be his. His blood was flying through him like a sea in a storm and he found it difficult to not break into a run straight to the human camp. This was also visible among the other darkspawn as the gunlocks looked ready to start stabbing at every shadow.

The there was a whisper in the air. It sounded like it was somewhere far off and yet he felt it seeping through the trees and grass all around him. He clearly recognized it as the voice of the Master, spurring them onward. He marched in the front line and led the huge column of darkspawn ever on through the swampy forest.

He stopped when the sensation of a vision came to his mind with the same buzzing as if from a dozen wasps entered his head. He jerked his head back and his eyes went blank.

_He saw a land completely unlike the one he now prowled through. This was a wide-stretched wasteland. There was a pillar of smoke in the horizon and burned trees everywhere. No, not burned…corrupt. He now saw that the blackness covering the trees were the corruption that followed and spread around the darkspawn were ever they went. The sickness covered the ground as well and now he saw figures in his line of sight down a long road. They were humans but wore no armor and traveled with beasts and wagons packed with equipment. They all looked panicked and many were wounded. The song of the Master intensified if pleasure as He saw this through Skorge and the black dragon appeared in the vision as well, flying triumphantly through the sky above the fleeing humans heads. He looked as if He would dive down to snatch them up or shower them with fire but just then the song weakened somehow. And it wasn't dampening as much as it was…pushed away. But who could hold back the power of the Dark Master himself?_

_A second dragon flew into sight, this one with purple-crimson scales and a crown of horns sprouting from the back of its head. This new dragon flew past Skorge and down towards the road like a bolt of raging fury. The Master saw this new beast and turned to face it. The mighty creature darted towards each other like a pair of lightning bolts and both let out challenging roars before meeting in an explosion of fire. The yellow-purple inferno surrounded the two dragons like a small sun and when the light hit Skorge it almost knocked him to his feet. When he looked back up the fire and light had cleared, leaving only the new dragon, circling the sky victoriously._

"_Masters and gods come and go like all else, Spawn of the deep. Nothing is eternal in this world. When we meet eye to eye, you will understand that your role in it is very unlike what you would ever have believed. Watch for the Hawke and the Dragon, and you shall find me."_

_The voice let out a chuckle and the dragon in the sky disappeared in a blinding light as the sky burned up._

Skorge was jerked back into his body as a horn sounded, the human fortress had been sighted by the front ranks.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Battle of Ostagar 

The first drops of rain hit Skorge`s face, first just as dribbles but soon it poured down, making the darkspawns torches sizzle and the ground to get slippery. It felt good, he thought. He had only experienced rain on a few occasions but it still amazed him; that water could just fall freely from the sky above. He let his oozing, tainted skin soak in the wet, cold drops and marched at a faster pace. Behind him came the massive horde, lighting up the forest with their hundreds of dots of fire. They had marched towards the human fortress for about an hour now, ready to end this, here and now. He had placed himself and the Fang in the front ranks, having given Fist the leadership of the army`s vanguard, something the giant beast had approved of immensely. The sky suddenly lit up by a lightning bolt crossing the heavens with roaring thunder accompanying it. Skorge looked up at the dark night as more of the lightning cross-crossed the sky, almost heralding the coming event.

The whispers of the Master followed them every step, making them keep pace no matter what and soon they saw it.

The fortress rose up between the cliffs as they had seen before, though it somehow seemed even more threatening at night. He saw the human army standing in battle order below the bridge stretching above them, blocking the passage to whatever lands lay beyond. He saw that they had raised a few barricades along the sides of their force. Sharpened poles no doubt meant to funnel the horde into the narrow bottle-neck the gorge formed. It was a good tactic, taking away the horde`s advantage of superior numbers, especially since the torches up on the bridge and the buildings around it indicated archers who would be free to send a hail down in their heads. He noted that they outnumbered the human force greatly; they could hardly hope to win with only what? A fifth of the darkspawn`s number, even with their defensible position. Something was not right…

Then he huffed and let out a roar for the army to halt along the tree line. They all obeyed as if on sheer instinct and stopped dead in their tracks, glaring across the field at their human enemies. They were not as composed a few seconds later though. They jerked and roared and growled in anticipation, waving their weapons about. This was clearly not reflected in their counterparts however. Skorge`s eyes easily penetrated the thick night darkness and watched the human soldiers glance at each other nervously. He smirked and advanced through the rank, the various darkspawn parting to let their general through. Once he had cleared the frontline he stepped a few steps out on the field, watching the other army carefully. He spotted movement on the western barricade along a line of large human statues and he grinned behind his helmet`s visor when he recognized the human leader; the gold-armored one. Behind him came an even more important target for Skorge, the silver-armored, dark-skinned man he had seen in his visions; the Grey Warden. He also noted a line of the four-legged furry beasts the humans had kept in the camp. The animals were painted in black, white and red dyes, making their snarling faces look even more fearsome.

Glancing back he saw crews of genlocks bring up catapults behind others of their kind who formed an archer line while the rest if the fighters were working themselves into a frenzy before the coming bloodshed.

Then Skorge finally decided that the time had come. He slowly drew a sword from his hip, having slung his battle axe over his back for now. He then gave his warriors one last look, raised the blade above his horned helmet and made a quick downward cut with it in the air as he roared for the charge to begin.

The result was instantaneous. In a thick mass the darkspawn flowed over the field like a wave of water by the sea. They surged forward with all the fury and thirst for blood only dark creatures such as they could muster. Fist lumbered along the first wave and Skorge himself was not far behind. He had thrown away the sword and now hefted his battle axe high above his head as he roared along with the others. They had covered half the field`s length when a volley of burning arrows arced up from the human lines. Skorge did not stop running as hurlocks and genlocks all around him was struck, the missiles piercing their armor and making them gush dark blood with pained squeals and growls. Then, as the hail stopped, something else emerged from the human army and ran to meet them. He realized that it was the painted, furry beasts he had spotted. The animals ran to meet them with snarling, growling and spittle filled mouths. They charged in among the darkspawn line, pouncing on the taller creatures, their weight pulling or tackling them to the ground where their dark flesh was assaulted by sharp fangs and claws. Skorge found himself targeted by a red-painted one with black fur. The beast leapt into the air and would had closed its frightening jaws on his neck had his not brought up the pole of his axe just in time. The animal`s weight crashed into him full force, making his charge top dead in its tracks while the others still ran past him and onward. The force of the impact had knocked the wind out of Skorge and now he staggered back, the furry things still holding on to his axe with its iron jaws. Once he had regained his balance he snarled and jerked the axe to him. The animal yelped as the teeth holding the pole flew out from the force of the pull but had little time to react otherwise, before the heavy axe blade came falling down on its head, cleaving the skull.

When he Skorge looked back up he saw the humans charge to meet them and he grinned viciously, but he did not charge ahead into the coming fray, He knew he needed a tactical viewpoint and he spotted a small rise close to the tree line to his right. He ran over and up on the tiny hill just as the two armies met with a thunderous clash of steel and armored bodies. The two sides melted into a fray of screaming, slashing warriors, craving the others blood.

With roar that almost rose above the sounds of battle he held his axe high. This drew the attention of a few nearby humans and they charged him. Lowering the axe to waist level, Skorge ran to meet them head on.

There were three of them attacking all at once and he had to fall on the defensive almost immediately to shield himself from the flurry of blows they rained down on him. Waving the pole of the axe up and down, side to side, he managed to hold them off long enough for one, a man wielding a greatsword, to make a wide swing that barely missed his helmeted head and present an opening. Skorge saw the second of fearful realization in the man`s eyes as the shaft of the huge axe came down on his neck hard. A moment later his head went sailing through the air and out of sight in the massive melee that now raged around them. The other two enemies, a man holding a shield as well as a one handed axe and a woman with a sword clanged tightly in her hands, watched him carefully while also trying to maintain awareness of the weapons sizzling past them. The man dared the first strike. Hunkered down behind his shield he advanced on Skorge and once he was close enough, tried a swing of his short axe from behind it. The move was too careful and therefor also relatively slow and easily avoided by the Alpha as he jumped back. Skorge raised his deadly tool once again and let it fall heavily upon the flat round shield. The blow made the man stagger back and drop the shield at the same time. He did not get a second chance.

The axe imbedded itself in his chest with a wide gush of red blood and a gasp of pain and surprise from the man before he collapsed. Skorge placed a foot on the body and pulled the blade free with a wet, sickening sound of tearing flesh. He then turned his attention to his third opponent. The woman was pale now, her leather helmet not covering that her eyes almost bulged from their places with fear. Skorge ran forward before she could gather her wits again and knocked her off her feet as his armored bulk slammed into her, making her fall full force on her back. She barely got a minute to refill her now empty lungs before an armored boot landed on her throat with crushing weight. Skorge stepped of the body and returned to his waypoint once more.

Magic had begun to fly as well. Emissaries and humans in robes wielding staves filled their air above the fighters' heads with fireballs and bolts of lightning. He heard the crashes and shattering of rock as the burning boulders from their own catapults struck the human fortress. Most of them flew harmlessly into the cliff but a few hit home on the bridge, killing several archers and destroying ballistae positioned on it. One even landed among the human ranks further back, flattening soldier in burning smears. He saw an ogre fall, its head still smoldering from the lightning bolt that had struck its head, and slam into the ground loudly.

"Press onward, drive them back into gorge." He shouted angrily as he held of more attackers from his position. The darkspawn fought on with ever growing ferocity but still the enemy held firm against them. Now he could make out a few individuals in the mass. He felt pools of tainted energy within the ones currently slaughtering his warriors where they stood, scattered around the battlefield.

There he saw a large, bearded man with a greatsword cut down advancing genlocks as they came. There he saw what looked like a short human with pointed ears fire his bow and send arrows into an ogre`s chest and over there was an elderly dwarf with a maul, holding darkspawn away from his pointy eared comrade. To these individuals did Skorge focus his attention and gathering the Fang around him, he advanced on their general area of the battlefield, cutting through any opposition like a tidal wave

All three of the wardens he had seen spotted the incoming line of heavily armed hurlocks and turned to face the new threat without a moment's hesitation. Admirable, Skorge thought before breaking into a run ahead of his brothers. The man with the pointed ears took aim at Skorge, fired an arrow that went flying like death itself, and missed. The deadly projectile instead lodged into the skull of the Fang warrior coming right behind Skorge, sending the unlucky Hurlock to the ground without a sound, at least no sound that could be heard above the turmoil around them. The bearded man, a large fuzzy brown bearded man, rushed to meet Skorge head on. Their two heavy weapons met with a heavy clash that sent vibrations down both of their arms and stopped their momentum in an instant. The long blade of the greatsword pressed against the axe's pole and they struggled for control while the rest of the Fang ran passed them. Skorge saw nothing but fierce determination on the warden`s eyes, not like the fear he had seen in the others. Letting out a growl he pushed the man back, delivered a few wild swings of his axe that went sizzling just inches past the man`s head and forced him to give ground, step by step. Yet the cold calculation never left the man`s gaze, watching every attack Skorge made and countered, parried or avoided each one.

Skorge was losing his patience_. Enough of this_, he though and performed a heavy swing that knocked the man`s blade away and then rammed into the man full force, knocking him back. Skorge wouldn`t give this opponent the chance to recuperate and severed the man`s bearded head with one clean sweep of his axe.

Turning from the body he saw the elderly dwarf being dragged down by his Fang, the warrior`s giant maul out of his grasp. Only the bowman remained. He had fled back to get the distance he needed for his bow. Skorge immediately ran after him, not bothering to bring his axe to bear as he tackled the warden before he could bring up his bow. The two rolled on the ground, the alpha`s larger size and strength eventually gaining him the upper hand as he straddled the short man`s stomach under his heavy weight. Skorge grinned and brought his gauntleted fists down on the man`s face, again, again and again until only a bloody, disfigured smear remained. Three wardens down in a matter of minutes.

Skorge felt surging excitement, the excitement of a kill, and rose to his feet, planted one boot on the body and threw back his head. A war-cry of victory rose from deep within his cavernous chest, passed the open mouth and out into the night sky. The Fang closest to him looked at him for a moment in awe before returning to their bloody work and, hefting his heavy axe once more, so did Skorge

The battle would rage back and forth for the next hour, neither side gaining the advantage. The darkspawn had the numbers but the humans' position allowed them to take them on in waves and not the flood Skorge would have liked. He himself had acquired several wounds, though nothing so serious that he would have had to quit the field, which he would hardly have done even so. He had moved into the melee and fought alongside Fist. The massive warrior tore the enemies to pieces with a fury that outmatched anything Skorge had ever seen before. With him and his Fang gathered around him, Skorge began another hard press against the human line. By now they had been pushed back off the field and into the gorge, right underneath the bridge overhead. The barricades had been set on fire by torches or arrows from their archers further back in the fight.

Then Skorge caught a glimpse of gold and turned to find just the target he wanted, Though dulled by a layer of blood, the golden armor of the human leader still stood like a beacon to Skorge`s sensitive eyes as the human cut down darkspawn with a greatsword. Skorge was far more thrilled still when he spotted the man fighting next to the leader. It was the silver-armored Warden Commander. The pair fought back to back, slicing through the Fang hurlocks who had advanced ahead of Skorge.

"Go." He barked to Fist, who rumbled in response before lumbering towards the two humans with a greedy lust for blood in his eyes. The ogre built up his pace a little as he drew close, knocking friend and foe alike out of his way as he soon came upon the two. Skorge watched as his most trusted warrior fell upon the warden first. The bearded man seemed to have noticed the giant`s approach and turned to face him…too late. He was knocked aside by a massive fist and was sent sprawling to the ground a few meters away. Fist then glared down at the man in golden armor as he made a futile attempt to harm the far superior darkspawn with a swing of his greatsword. He was too slow and was plucked from the ground in the huge blue hand, a hand tensing with muscles that could break through nearly anything. Fist savored the feeling of power the human`s helplessness provided, brought the man up just long enough to roar a bellowing war-cry in his face, covering it with spittle and then squeezed. Skorge imagined the sound of the armor giving, not able to hold its intended shape under the awful pressure, and the agony of the metal being pressed into the flesh it was supposed to protect. Then, as if popping a grape, the man relaxed with gushes of scarlet blood coming from every gap in the now deformed armor. Fist let out snort, unimpressed, and tossed the body away straight into pair of dumbfounded human soldiers who had seen the whole thing. Fist raised his head and howled his victory for all to hear.

Could it really have been that easy? Were these the powerful wardens the Master had feared would stop their great cleansing of the surface? The thought made Skorge let out a rough laugh from inside his helmet, a laugh which died just as quickly when he saw the Warden sprint up from the place he had landed, head directly towards the victorious ogre and crouch for the leap.

"NO." Skorge bellowed and hefted his axe, but it was too late. Fist never saw the warden, or the two daggers he held, as his smaller body slammed into his mighty chest. The man instantly buried his weapons down to the hilts in the tainted, blue flesh, his momentum having forced Fist to take an involuntary step back. What happened next was unlike anything Skorge had ever seen.

The man used the daggers to scale the ogre like a cliff-face until he reached the neck where he plunged the dagger in one last time. Ogre let out growls and yelps with each stab until the strength left his trunk like legs and he fell back, the warden still on him. Skorge watched the whole thing in utter disbelief and saw the bloodied human hold his side, likely from an injury when Fist had swatted him aside. The man then weakly glanced around and left the massive body behind to stagger over to the mangled remains of his gold-armored leader, falling to his knees.

Skorge roared his feral fury at the man, though he knew that he was out of earshot from him, and raised his axe hight. Calling his Fang and ordinary darkspawn grunts to him he raced across the short distance. He would make the warden pay for this. He passed through flaming barricades and came upon the man as he glanced up at appoint high above. His attention snapped back to the incoming threat however and his weakened gaze saw Skorge come.

Skorge let the axe fall with all the force he could muster and…missed. Although with obvious effort, the man had ducked away from the swishing shaft just in time to avoid a beheading. Skorge watched as the man struck the ground, rolled away and staggered to his knees. He allowed the man the indignity of trying to struggle to his feet before raising his axe again. The warden was unarmed, his daggers were still lodged in Fist`s chest. Instead he raised both hands, albeit shakily and trembling in a fighting stance.

"You have not won yet, you still have me to pass through." The man panted. Skorge had to admit the man`s courage, and respected it. All around them the humans were cut down or fleeing and in truth this warden was all that remained. Now the Fang had lined up behind Skorge. He decided to grace the warden commander. He watched the human as an equal, a fellow warrior.

"One last fight warden, and the path will be clear for us." He growled. To his credit, the man did not flinch or pull back at the unexpected words, only a raising of his eyebrows. Then they both charged.

Skorge`s weapons came down heavily but missed once again as the human side stepped the downward hack. Then he moved up close, grabbed Skorge by the shoulders and slipped one leg behind both of the hurlock`s. With a push Skorge was easily brought down by the weight of his armor and fell to the ground. He didn't get a second the breath before the man was on him. The warden grabbed the horns of his thick helmet and pulled it off, revealing the champion`s snarling face. Reaching up, Skorge grabbed hold of the warden`s arms and flipped them around. Now that he was on top, there was no chance for the weakened human to resist Skorge`s superior strength. With one hand he pressed the man down and with the other he searched the nearby ground for something to use. His fingers soon grasped something and without checking what the object was he slammed it down on the struggling man`s head. It turned out to be his discarded helmet and two more heavy strikes was enough.

The Fang watched their bloody leader rise from the body, put the helmet back on and turn to them. There was no cry of victory, no show of dominance. Just a calm walk as he moved through their ranks and onto the battlefield. The sheet of fresh bodies, a few still moving, covered the entire field and gorge.

"Go into the forest, round up the surviving human females and bring them here. Kill any who offer opposition…and the males. The Master has something special in mind for the women." He said and turned to them.

"And gather our force once it is done. We have no time to lose here. We must follow the humans north at once."

For the first time since his birth, or maybe rather his rebirth at the Master`s hands, he wished that just one of the others had his abilities of thought, of speech. Even Fist, who had been the closest thing a darkspawn could ever have had to a friend had been just as mindless as the others as they only grunted their understanding of his commands before moving off. He watched them go, watched all the other darkspawn prowling the dead bodies. They would all fight and kill and die at his word, yet he was alone, all alone. An outsider.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Names are the base of an Individual

**Author`s note: Sorry I was a bit late to remember this but I must attribute the idea of the Fang to Erynnar and her story Soulmates. In it the main character leads a group of specially skilled and trained spies, thieves and assassins. That made me come up with the idea for an elite vanguard of hurlock warriors who serve as Skorge`s personal unit. Sorry this chapter is a bit short on details but had to write it in a hurry:( In this chapter I`m going to bring in a few more specific darkspawn characters to expand the story a little beyond Skorge`s mind.**

The darkspawn had little real intelligence and their creativity was nonexistent, they were effective none the less however and had followed Skorge`s commands to the letter. After the ones he had sent into the forest after the fleeing humans returned with two dozen human females in tattered armor, which were now herded into a pen of long sharpened sticks, they had assembled and prepared to move onward past the gorge and further to the north and the human land. He had noted that a few of his surviving warriors did not return from the hunt but shrugged it off, assuming that they had simply wandered too far and lost their way, which was the nature of his narrow minded brethren. He was a bit satisfied to see that none of his Fang had deserted at least. The roughly twenty or so elite hurlocks who had survived the brutal battle stood close by, awaiting his next order.

He had none for the moment. Skorge had resorted to prowl the battlefield in silent contemplation.

The grass and pebble covered ground should be crunching under his heavy boots, instead it gave away sucking noises as his feet sank into the soil, so wet with blood it had almost become mud. His gaze focused on body after body as he passed them. Here was a human female with half her face cut away, there was a Hurlock with an arrow between his eyes. The silent was total, not counting the gory sounds of a few darkspawn further away as they crawled on all fours from body to body, trying in vain to fill their endless void of a hunger. A few bird made their presence know just then, letting out their cries of sorrow over the loss of live from a high tree branch. The scent was the worst. Skorge found his nostrils assaulted by the heavy metal fumes of smells which came rising from the blood pools. Normally he might savor the aroma but not today, for reasons he did not understand. Why did he avert his eyes from a shriek who was busy stuffing his mouth full of human flesh? Why did he not want to hear his warriors roar in victory? Why did he not want to smell the blood…?

He realized that his feet had carried him back to the fortress, right below the bridge. Here he found the gold-armored human`s body, still mangled from Fist`s tight grip. The body lay with the front in the mud so he placed a boot on his flank and gave it a shove so he rolled over on his back. The empty eyes glowered up at him. He growled, not at the human, but this sudden weakness which seemed to have overcome him. He pointed to a pair of genlocks.

"You two, bring the body up there." He said and pointed to the bridge above. At least he could get some outlet for his anger at himself. The two shorter darkspawn responded immediately and dragged the body between them by the arms. He had left the warden where he lay and allowed no desecration of it, probably another result of his own weak mind. He then followed the pair in through the hole he had sent his second attack force through, the one which he had meant to take the bridge during the battle. He had later learned that the force had instead gone into the massive tower, against his command, which rose high above the fortress itself and taken up garrison within, slaying the humans inside. He had later found that the entire force had been decimated and from a lone survivor he had learned that they had been killed by none other than the female warden, her knight companion, her furry beast and a few other humans. That had made him grit his teeth in anger, once he was done gawking in surprise. An entire force of darkspawn, almost fifty warriors plus an ogre, dead; one more offence for which she would pay once he got his second chance at killing her.

Skorge had followed up on this was when things became less clear. A group of his warriors had seen the bodies outside and rushed in to reinforce the garrison inside, only to find endless hallways of bloody darkspawn corpses until they reached the very top of the building where the humans stood over the body of the ogre and a blazing fireplace in the wall. They had immediately sent arrows at the wardens and look as if they were victorious as the humans fell.

Skorge had been understandably shocked when one of the archers claimed that as they moved to grab the bodies a giant eagle flew it through a large hole in the roof. The hurlock had claimed that the animals had been twice the size of an ogre and that it swooped down, blew the first ranks of darkspawn away with a gush of wind from a massive flap of its wings and plucked the two wardens from the floor in its talons, taking pains even to pick the beast up in its beak before flying off again.

The darkspawn had mentioned a human emissary in the little group and at first he had suspected that a spell had been put over the warriors to see something like that but once one of the said that judging from his wounds, crushed torso and all. It was apparent that the mage had fallen during the battle with the ogre. Long before this flying giant appeared.

"Once again she escapes by her luck alone." Skorge growled. It seemed the very laws of nature were against him finding the female warden now.

He would have to muster his forces soon and head on. Only by expanding further could he make up for the failed battles so far to the Master and show his worth once again. Gathering his Fang and Alphas he sent them out to reassemble their warriors and prepare for the march. Meanwhile, he had an appointment to keep with one certain genlock in the camp.

He walked at a fast pace through the tents and weapon racks as he headed to a smaller area away from the others where the necromancer had settled down. As far as Skorge knew his talents for raising the dead was most unique to him. None of the other emissaries had that kind of powers and for that he was shunned by his fellows, which was made all the easier due to his race as well. As he passed a row of head tipped spears which had been jammed into the ground he saw a small genlock with intricate leathers and a massive headdress sit on his haunches by a small pile of human bodies. He just stared at the corpses intently even as Skorge came up beside him. The Hurlock noted that the genlock`s skin was a light blue-grey color as opposed to the usual dark green.

"Necromancer" Skorge said, but got no answer as the diminutive creature instead stood up and raised his hands to the sky and then back to the bodies in what Skorge took as a mystical gesture. He repeated this and hummed lowly.

"Necromancer!" Skorge barked more forcefully and yet was met with nothing. He was about to lose his temper when the thing`s hands erupted in black and blue flames which proceeded tp gush over the three bodies. Once the flames slithered away and flickered out of existence nothing more happened, nothing made a sound. The dull eyes of the necromancer slowly became more intense, more focused and then flew wide open as he let out a long humming chant and the bodies began to move. The one at the top of the pile moved its hands as if feeling for purchase and found it on one of the other corpse`s legs and pushed itself up. The man, for now Skorge saw that that was what he was, turned his face up at them. The once plump human features were now distorted but that was likely the results from the darkspawn club Skorge saw close by, rather than then spell that had just been put on him. The other two followed suit and soon stood in a stumbling line. During this process Skorge had grown more and more intrigued and turned to the necromancer who finally faced him.

"Yes, my lord." The genlock said in a surprisingly deep voice.

"I will need you, necromancer, and your…creations to stay behind here as I move the army further north. I cannot afford that a second human force comes around and retake this place. That would cut of our one secure way of retreat." Skorge said grimly and glanced about the battlefield. "I think you have enough…available manpower here to gather a sufficient defense force."

"Indeed." The necromancer hissed with a hint of amusement in his tone. Skorge watched him for a second before nodding and leaving. To be truthful, he was rather glad to have that one out of his force. Not many gunlocks dared stare a hurlock in the eye like he did and he was smarter than most. It struck him now that besides himself the necromancer was the only one in the horde with his own identity. This had allowed him to reason with him on a deeper level than the others. An idea was forming itself in his head and it kept him busy as he passed back the way he had come

Three hours later they had the horde once again assembled and ready to go. It was considerably smaller now but he knew it would be enough until the Master returned with his additional forces.

"We`re moving out." He barked to thr alphas and began to marched away onto the dirt road on which the humans had first arrived. Now they filled it in a long column, like a snake carrying a dark essence of doom to the human lands ahead. Glancing back Skorge already saw the walking corpses of the necromancer, plus the few warriors he had left with him, patrol the walls of the fortress.

Skorge was as usual at the head of the horde along with his Fang. He gave them a backward glance, watching their stern, expressionless faces and once again wished there was some way to make them like him. He could try to discuss the matter with the Master but he doubted the dragon would want to many darkspawn thinking for themselves, especially since the darkspawn in question served such a vital role as the commander`s bodyguard. Dominant hurlocks fought their way to the top and he would have been surrounded by more competition than protection if they had been more intelligent. And yet he longed for some sort of connection with someone that was not the Master, a rotting ghoul or someone like the necromancer. This had been the cause of the idea before. He was thinking of creating some kind of individuality among his Fang. And what defined an individual? A name!

So it was with some level of satisfaction that Skorge brought eight of his most experienced Fang members, darkspawn who had been among the first to join him down in the deep roads, to the side of the road and lined them up. He had spent a good hout thinking up names and the collection he now had he liked. He did not know, could not know, that the names that had almost popped into his mind like magic were actually due to the Master`s spell on him. No darkspawn alive now knew the truth about the old gods, how they were once Tevinter gods of power and magic but had been sealed away below ground. Maybe this part of the Master`s being, the tevinter part, had somehow transferred over to Skorge when he shared his intelligence and reasoning with him through the spell. For whatever reason, the names he was about to give his warriors were actually tevinter in origin, which he was understandably unaware of. He now walked along the line slowly, putting his armored fist against each hurlock`s wide chest plate as he called out their individual names as he did so.

"Maccabeus, Tartarus, Vorenus, Grattius, Licinus, Strab, Druss and Ritul." He barked. The eight warriors followed him with their dull eyes but said nothing. Skorge expected no reaction but that they now owned names, identities, pleased him.

"You are now my seconds in commands. You will carry out my will in this army on this our most hallowed quest. You will be my harbingers of command, my messengers of whims." He called, no respons.

"Now return to your places in the ranks, I will be there soon." Skorge urged and they did as told. He watched them go, feeling a mixed sensation of accomplishment…and disgust. He now had his "individuals", at least in name. Had he been among humans they would have likened him to a child playing with dolls, not that they would have survived to tell others of the insult but still. Skorge felt a sudden rush of enthusiasm however. Maybe they could be _formed _into personalities? Maybe he could find equals among them with time?

If nothing else, he had at least created a chain of command. He gave each of the named ones command over a unit of equal size and let them lead ahead. Leadership and dominance, these things they understood well.

As they marched on Skorge began to notice details among the named ones that might help him distinguish them more clearly. Tartarus, his new second in command, for example had a long scar stretching from the top right side of his forehead all the way across his face down to his left jaw. Vorenus was actually a bit taller and more muscular than Skorge himself and Grattius was missing his right hand, forcing him to use a one handed axe. To be fair he used the weapon with great skill.

"Tartarus, take your scout of to the north ahead of us, Maccabeus, you and your warriors follow, keep yourselves between us and the scouting party at all time." Skorge barked and the pair immediately complied, running ahead to assemble their troops. He smirked, pleased, as he watched them go.

The forest around the long, dark column was eerily quiet. Everything seemed to reject their presence here. No surface animals roamed around them and no sign of any more humans around. The only thing that sounded was the booming of the darkspawn marching along with their horns and drums giving of their loud calls,

They marched on for the rest of the day and towards the darkening of the sky they set camp. Around the same time as they stopped Tartarus returned, bringing startling news to Skorge.

The supreme commander had listened intently as Tartarus described how he and his scouting group had followed a small dirt road at the edge of the large forest which they had spent the last months on now, talking of a wide open countryside beyond. This gave Skorge satisfaction, since it indicated that they would soon no doubt find the lands the humans seemed so eager to protect. What Tartarus said next however, formed Skorge`s lips into a half smirk half snarl. Tartarus was tell of the reason as to why only he had returned to camp, bloodied as well.

"Describe this group of humans _again_." Skorge demanded as he stood over the other hurlock.

"Yes my lord. The first we noted was male, wearing heavy armor and fine weapons. He matches the description of the man who accompanied the warden." Tartarus said in his raspy voice." The second was a female. A dark haired, golden-eyes woman who looked very little like her companions, judging from her attire. She seemed to be an emissary, wielding magic as she did. And the last…" Tartarus seemed to be getting a bit more hesitant but excited as well." Was the female warden, whom you have already encountered, with her beast. She is close."

Skorge did not move. Could it be so? Could this warden be just within his grasp out here, protected by a mere group of two other humans and an animal?

"Give the order for a forced march immediately. I want all the alphas to rally their warriors and moved after them at once." Skorge barked as he stormed past Tartarus who turned to walk with him.

"Lord, I should also report that we saw a lot of activity further down the road, along with ruins and pillars of smoke. It is possible that a human settlement is nearby." His tone sounded positively cheerful.

"Good, I will slay the wardens and take the first piece of human land in one blow." Skorge almost gloated. Soon the entire army thundered forwards at a fast pace, most of them running. A few unfortunate genlocks were trampled under the stampede. Now the forest _did _make sounds. The noises of swaying trees with bark whining againt the unusual movment and panicked bird fleeing before the oncoming sea of blackness. Soon the first waves of it would splash against the human shores.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Hawke and the Dragon Fly Together

**Sorry this chapter is short but I needed something before we get going on the truly unseen part of the darkspawn story. Now I get to be creative:)**

Finding the human village had been easy. Following the road along with a detachment of three hundred of his warriors Skorge had left the great, wide forest behind and almost immediately come upon the site of a small town which was mostly devoid of people. The still houses with swaying, creaking doors, the empty dens meant for critters and the ground covered with discarded clothes, packages and even foods. This hadn't stopped Tartarus and his group to completely ravage the town, burning the buildings along with the sacks of vet and hay. They had found a few huddled humans left behind in the houses, most of them being of the sort with pointy ears. These unfortunate souls were shown absolutely no mercy by the darkspawn as they were slaughtered where they sat or lay.

Skorge was currently walking through the town, watching the wooden buildings burn and fall one by one. The black burned wood crunched under his heavy boots. His nose flared with the smell of smoke and gore. He watched as the town, and the wide landscape around it, was covered slowly by the taint which always followed their very footsteps. Leaves cascaded from the trees as it reached them and crawled up their petrified trunks like some fungus. The grass died and seemed to disintegrate in hours, leaving bare, dirty ground. It was a wasteland by now as far away as he could see. He left the town behind to walke over a small field to a large stone bridge, giving him a good view of the land and the river, which were now much darker than it had been at their arrival due to the bodies of humans thrown in it. Commotion broke out down the large walkway of the bridge and when Skorge turned to see why it was just in time to spot two armed, young human men, a young woman with a staff and an older woman jump over the side and down onto a path leading to the collection of large hills away from town. They were followed by Tartarus`s warriors led by an emissary and accompanied by an ogre.

"_Survivors!" _Skorge thought as he sprinted after them, intending to draw some blood for himself. He saw both groups disappear into the far country side areas and the occasional flash of yellow and white, indicating magic which he assumed was used by the emissary, though they caused an awful lot of hurlock howls of agony. Skorge was too far behind them to see exactly where they had gone so he ran down a dirt road which led him passed a small forest glade of tainted trees. He heard the much too familiar sounds of battle some ways ahead as he shriveled leafs and branched cracked and snapped under his feet. A tree close by simply fell with a loud whine of the bark and a crash as it hit the ground, hiding the sounds of steel on steel for a moment. He reached an open clearing and was about to jump a thin stream of water which had branched out from the river when he froze in his steps. His mind went gloomy and the sounds around him dampened as his eyes went blank. It was the feeling he got when a vision was about to make itself known but this time it was different. He clutched his head as a buzzing like a thousand angry bees had made a home in his skull. He clearly felt the work of magic. It was as if someone was forcing this on him as his head snapped back.

_He stood at the exact same spot but the edges of his eye still had the shimmery blur of his visions. The area was covered by the taint like he had left it but now, instead of a dark shadow it glowed a dull crimson, pulsing like a heartbeat. He looked around just as a monumental roar ran from just above his head. A shadow covered him for a split second and then the earth shook as a huge creature of scales and horns landed in his way, throwing up a dust cloud. Once it settled back down he saw that it was a crimson dragon, the same one he had seen battling the Master in a previous vision. It sat on the dirt path and observed him with a glint of curiosity. Skorge was spellbound by the eyes until something moved further up on its head. Reverting his gaze he saw a hawk sitting between the two massive horns, casually cleaning itself. It lifted its head, watched Skorge for a moment and then let out a shrill shriek and flew away until the dragon blocked his sight of it. He had an odd impulse to follow it, to hunt it down._

"_For all our sakes, I cannot permit you to reach him."_

_The voice came from every direction. It sounded like a human female`s voice, old and yet it hid strength within. The dragon cocked its head._

"_Who are you?" Skorge demanded. None but the Master could give him visions and yet somehow this creature had done so, on two occasions now. The dragon said nothing for a few long seconds before it lowered its head and a shine like the sun bloomed out from it, forcing him to cover his eyes. When the blinding flash disappeared and he removed his arms from his face a human stood there, and yet there was something very…unhuman about her._

_The woman was dressed him crimson robes and pieces of shining armor on her knees and forearms. He noted a headpiece crown that any emissary would have died for and that he long white hair had been shaped like the horns of the dragon that had recently sat in her place. Her golden eyes pierced him own white ones like a spear as she walked towards him with slow grace._

"_My, my what a marvelous creature you are." She said as she reached him. She did not stop but instead walked around him, as if inspecting him. He did feel on display and turned to face her._

"_I said, who are you?" he growled. "Speak quickly human."_

_She laughed. "Human? my that was long ago. No, I am but a watcher, and observer of events. And I have observed you, spawn of the deep. You are unique." She cackled and looked back in the direction she had come from. Following her gaze he saw the hawk, still flying towards a faraway land only it knew of. _

"_He has a destiny to fulfill, and it is not to fall to your axe." She turned back to him."So do you, creature."_

_Skorge snarled. "And what might that be, creature?"_

_The woman laughed. "Wit from a darkspawn? This is turning out to be quite the day." She shook her head with a smirk. "Let me introduce myself. I am Flemeth, at least to most humans. I have watched you advance from a simple brood spawn to the supreme commander of a Blight, not bad. Especially since you represent quite the danger to my plans for the Warden you seek."_

_Skorge snarled and growled. "You stand with her? Than you shall die as well." He said and lunged at her, hands formed into fists. He aimed a punch that would have crushed a human`s face but was met with nothing as Flemeth dissolved into dust, only to reappear behind him._

"_Maybe not so different after all." She mused. Skorge had stopped immediately after his attack and now they locked gazes. Those dim golden eyes did not twitch for a second but was averted when Flemeth gave a snorting laugh and looked down on the ground between them. Skorge looked as well and cocked his head at what he found._

_A white rose sat there. Its bright, almost glowing petals eliminated the air around it. He saw that the taint surrounded the base of the stem but not quite touched, as if held away by the light. Flemeth went down on one knee, picked the flower and stood up again, holding it between them._

"_Is it not amazing? This is life in its purest form. It grows, it reaches for its full potential and strives to persist. Among this endless darkness it struggled to live and reaches for the sky. Just like you." She said in a reverent tone and walked closer. "You are life, a true, sentient creature among creatures who`s minds are clouded by blackness. You will be an example of light to your kind, just like this little rose." She held it out for him. With hesitant fingers he reached out and took it in his right hand, inspecting it closely._

"_Persist, grow and live marvelous creature, for your destiny lies beyond this conflict your master has put you in. I see your journey as clear as a streaming river before me, and it is to transcend your race`s natural limits, strive to reach it." She chuckled and the flash that followed indicated the end of the vision._

Skorge gasped as he came to his senses again. He clenched his hands and felt something crunch in his rightpalm. Looking down he saw the white rose. He stared at it for several minutes, amazed at the pureness if the thing until it began to shrivel and curl and blacken by the taint from his skin. With a snarl he threw it to the ground and moved on, leaving this last piece of beauty to be devoured like all the rest behind him.

After passing a path littered with darkspawn bodies he came upon a summit where the group of humans he had seen being chased apparently had decided to make a last stand. He stood on a large hill, hidden mostly by a small pillar of smoke coming from an overturned log at its base. He had arrived just in time to see the ogre being slain by a man with a large sword and the group huddling together as Tartarus sent all his remaining warriors to surround them, filling the small, almost circular field. It looked like the humans would perish after all and he crossed his arms, awaiting the coming slaughter.

The same thunderous roar he had heard in his vision sounded, making everyone snap their attention to a high cliff above the field where indeed the crimson dragon sat, overlooking them all. With a leap it threw itself off the edge and dived towards them, spewing fire at the darkspawn. Skorge growled, wondering just how much he should heed the words of one who had just minutes ago offered advice and spoken of fates and now massacred his brothers. This was when he spotted Tartarus himself. The commander threw himself out of the way of another torrent of fire, barely avoiding it and stood before ordering the retreat of the survivors. The dozen or so who made it soon rushed the hill all around him, barely paying attention to him as they ran passed. Tartarus himself stopped next to him

"Commander, what do we do?" he hissed, glancing back at the dragon.

"We do nothing."

Tartarus looked at him "But…"

"I said, nothing." Skorge growled.

"Might I ask why?" he said a bit hesitantly

"You might. How many of us would you see killed by that creature before we manage to bring it down? IF we manage at all? You and your warriors failed already, I will not see your defeated repeated" he said coldly. Tartarus bowed his head submissively.

"I understand commander."

"Good, bring what remains of your group back to camp, I will join you shortly."

The scarred Hurlock was quick to comply and ran off, holding a wound in his side Skorge noticed just now. He knew it would be healed soon; they were made for pain and recuperated from it quickly. He turned his eyes back to the summit and saw the woman, Flemeth, talking with the humans. Half of the field now burned with crisped darkspawn bodies. He lost interest quickly and headed after the others at a slower pace.

Once back he first noted that the entire town had now been leveled with the ground, no doubt by a vengeful Tartarus. He could appreciate the other hurlock`s aggressiveness but not that he acted without his strict order. While he had little use for the buildings, it would make it look as if Tartarus could hand out orders to the entire horde, and not just his assigned group. This could not be tolerated. And yet, had he not asked for this by giving the Fang speech and reason in the first place? He had at first assumed this would only give them those traits alone but the spell seemed to have triggered or unlocked something. His commanders were developing personalities, though he had a hard time figuring out just what that was. He entered the camp and soon found Vorenus, the tall Hurlock who seemed to have become somewhat of an enforcer for Skorge.

"Vorenus, give the order to Tartarus that he is to take a new group and head on without us and scout the land ahead of us. I want to know the state of the humans, if they are gathering a new force to stop us." He said and the muscled commander did as asked with a grunt of acknowledgement before running off. He knew that sending Tartarus ahead would serve to make it clear to the warriors that Skorge was at the head not Tartarus without actually hurting or disposing of the after all competent commander.

He left the camp once again and wandered about the outskirts. He returned to the river which was now black with taint instead of blood. He followed the dirt path again and froze when he saw something. It was the now black rose. He knelt by it and picked it up once again.

"_Destiny…_" he thought." _Who is this human to speak of destiny? I live for the Master and his cause. Yet she claimed I will not be part of it in the future. Does that mean...no. It cannot be._" He pushed away from the thought that their great campaign would end, it could not. The Master and his people were unstoppable, they could not be bested.

He wanted to throw the rose into the river, let the taint have the flower and drag it down and bury it within its darkness forever. Yet he did not. Instead he gently placed the rose on the ground again, and he did not know why. It unnerved him a little as he turned his back and stepped away hastily. He saw Tartarus run at the head of a new group away down the large stone bridge.

"_Go Tartarus, go and seek the humans. But by the Master and his greatness, if you find the Warden and slay her, I will gut you with my bare hands_."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Not so Calm Before the Storm

**Author`s note: On a few occasions I will show the story from a different individuals view. Skorge is still in center though.**

The thin leafs of the trees and the grass were wet from the night`s heavy rain. The ground was slick with mud and was doted by many small puddles of water. The birds of the Ferelden countryside were just beginning their morning calls and a small squirrel had just leapt down from a large oak to drink from one of the larger pools of dirty water. It took quick peeks in all directions to make sure there were no immediate threats as it then touched the water with its tiny face and flipped its tongue in rapid movements as it drank.

Barely a few drops were down before ripples disturbed the peaceful surface of the puddle however. The senses of the little forest creature were on the alert in a split second and it glanced about, ready to flee to the safety of the closest tree. Something foul and unnatural filled its nose and it covered it with its paws on reflex. Something in the air made its fur itch and it used a hind leg to scratch itself. A loud roar announced the arrival of the cause and soon a dark figure appeared on the dirt path the squirrel sat on. The form resembled a human, the squirrel had seen plenty of humans. The human young ones always wanted to chase him around but never caught up to his speedy little legs. Sometimes they left him nuts and some human food he did not know the name of. All he knew was that it smelled of vet and were softer than any nut he had ever found and much more tasty.

The figure were only thirty meters away when the vibrations its heavy boots caused made the squirrel leap away with all his speed and climb a tree where he settled on a low hanging branch, watching this new intruder of his peace. It wore the hard skins he had seen a few humans wrap themselves in only to shed later. This usually disgusted the squirrel. It was like watching a snake reuse its old skins. A snake was actually not a bad comparison once he saw the face of the creature. It was dark and menacing, dim eyes watching every tree and stone as it passed. Fangs just a terrifying. He noted a long scar running across the creature`s face as it based the tree he sat in. The vibrations only grew stronger as it passed and now he saw several more like it pass, along with smaller ones that were the same size as the nice human pups. They all stank of pollution and rot. He knew they did not belong here. He watched as one of the taller ones stepped in the puddle he had drank from and watched as the water slowly became dark and sluggish. Once the horrible progression had passed the squirrel took a few scared glances before jumping back down and ran to the puddle to resume its drink.

The water now reeked but the creatures had stomped every other puddle away. He sniffed it before wrinkling his nose with the stinging odor. Then he leaned down and took a sip.

He immediately sneezed and coughed violently. The tainted water seemed to make its way down his throat by it own accord and he peeped as he felt his windpipe contract, making it impossible to breath. He fell on his side, his limbs flailing and twitching in miserable panic. After a few horrible moments the moving ball of brown fur stopped its twitching. His eyes were bulged and blood ran from the lower lip. It seemed as peace had finally come to the speedy little explorer of the forest when instead a genlock had swiped the body up. He didn`t even get to see the human pups one last time to play today.

/

Tartarus looked back and barked at a genlock who had fallen a bit behind the others to pick up a small furry animal from the ground and promptly stuffed it into his wide mouth. His angry reprimand sent the genlock sprinting after the others with haste and Tartarus soon followed behind to keep others from falling away as well.

The running had lasted for two days now and nothing had come into view. No human settlement, no humans at all in fact. The only good the forced march did Taratarus was that it kept his head cool. He did not like being sent away from the main horde on some to him meaningless scouting rout. And for what? Because Skorge had disagreed on him ordering the warriors to burn the village! Tartarus did not delude himself into thinking he somehow could challenge Skorge for leadership, he was the Master`s chosen by the taint. He could only hope for death if he tried. He halted the party of scouts just as they reached the edge of a forest and looked out over a wide vet field ahead. Taratrus tapped a finger at the end of the scar that crossed the length of his face at the jaw. He had received it not long after he was born. He and his brood had quickly left their own cavern and armed themselves with the weapons that were always left ready for a new brood and entered the shadows. Not long after the group had been separated in many small tunnels and he had been ambushed by a giant spider. One of its long, sharp legs had sliced him over the face and left the long white line where it was now, almost having taken an eye out as well.

After raising the human village he and his warriors had followed a smaller dirt road which had taken them into this forest. Tartarus knew it would be easier to find the horde again. All he needed to do was backtrack and follow the track the taint left but he would not get to return yet for a while, oh no. He had to search for more human forces, despite the fact that he was convinced that all of them must have been either slain or routed in that battle.

"_None the less, orders are orders_." Tartarus thought bitterly. He gave the order to continue onward and they reformed into a loose column and sprinted through the harvest ready fields with no less speed than with which they has set out on this journey. The path was devastatingly dull; nothing but endless fields and rows of the golden crops. He prepared for another monotonic run when suddenly a loud squeal sounded from behind, snapping his attention back towards the forest they had just been in. A genlock lay on the ground with an arrow through the back of his skull.

"Die beasts." A shrill voice cried from the trees and something dropped from a branch. At first Tartarus did not see it clearly but soon he saw that it was one of those humans with pointy ears. It was short, even for one of those. Maybe a little more than half of his own hight. At first he had a hard time seeing what gender it had. Its long, black hair and soft voice would suggest as female but unlike the taller females he had seen at the human fortress this one`s chest was flat and hips more narrows.

"_A young one perhaps_." He thought. It didn't matter what she was. What mattered was that she aimed a well-made bow at the group, already knocking a new arrow to it. She wore leather pants and a leather shirt that left her midsection bare. The most notable trait however was the tattoo that was on her face. It looked like a black wolf that stood on its hind legs on her left cheek.

Tartarus smirked and ordered his warriors to stand down before drawing his sword and charged the pointy-eared one. To her credit she did not panic or even flinch as he came barreling toward her. She only smirked back and turned once he was close enough and with uncanny nimbleness leapt into a low branch and ran on the branches upwards like stairs while he chased after on the ground. She would occasionally stop and fire an arrow but he managed to dodge or take cover behind a tree each time. This became more easy since the thickness of the foliage grew tighter and tighter. Soon she had more branches to run on than needed and he had to duck or jump to follow. It seemed she had run out of arrows after one that had almost hit his right eye and she stood on a tree above him in a small clearing, holding a curved dagger

"Halem sahlin`alas." She hissed and leapt from the tree.

/

Skorge sat on a boulder and watched the area of the camp where the forges had been set up, looking with intrigue as the genlocks huffed and groaned under the heavy fires and over watch of the hurlocks. Despite this they produced weapons and armor at impressive speed, given that the results were relatively crude compared to what humans wore. He locked his gaze on the sparks flying from the forge master`s hammer on the red hot blade of a new sword and considered his plans.

The land they had now entered were wide so he had a large area to cover with his army. Since he had no way to see the lay of the land he had to relay entirely on scouting reports and so far it would seem best to simply head straight out from where they had left the forest and found the first human settlement. It frustrated him to no end that they had no way of tracking the female warden now. Fortunately he had plenty to keep his mind on track. It had been a never ending progression of raiding and scouting parties to organize, stragglers were rounded up randomly from the wake of the battles and he had to keep the number of internal dead from infighting on an acceptable level. It grew harder to keep a hold of the greatness of the campaign since there were no immediate enemies in sight and all he had to busy his leftover thought with was the dragon woman`s words.

"_Your destiny lies beyond this conflict…It is to transcend your race`s natural limitations…you will be an example of light to your kind…_" she had told him. It was difficult to believe and yet she had spoken with absolute conviction of her own prophesy. But the Master`s influence could not be stopped, he knew that. Once He returned Skorge would ask about this woman and find true answers. They had not heard from the Master for a long time however and he could only assume that He would come to them in time.

Before him the massive camp stretched out, though it was considerably smaller than what they had set out with. He knew it would be enough, at least for now, to hold their own against a second human force. His Fang leaders were all out on their scouting missions but most had returned for the day. Only Tartarus remained out.

"Strab." He called and the younger Hurlock came in a flash to his side. "Take a party and follow Tartarus`s tracks. He should have been back four hours ago. We will hold here until you return with him…or what remains of him and his group." He said, not breaking his stare at the sparks which flew with a less frequency as the blade was taking its final form.

"It will be done commander." Strab held a fist to his chest plate and then walked away, barking at a pack of shrieks to follow him along with an ogre.

Skorge glanced at them and watched them leave. He hoped that Tartarus would turn up well and unharmed, for reasons he was not quite sure of. He felt an odd sense of affection for his Fang, something no other darkspawn could ever understand but himself. But that was why he had created the Fang, given them their new minds and personalities. Strab had quickly taken the roll of the aspiring young warriors. He had been a very young hurlock when Skorge found him in the Deep Roads, barely away from his cavern along with his brood brothers. He was skilled in tactics and Skorge knew he would one day be as feared a warrior as any of the others, maybe even Tartarus.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Daughter of the Elvhen

The mostly quiet forest was graced with an early sun and the life of the subdued morning wilderness seemed as if to resume yet another day like countless others. A small puddle of water from the last days rains was about to dry out into nothingness.

"Halem Sahlin`alas."

The shout came only a split second before the puddle was disturbed by worried ripples from a heavy impact from close by. Tartarus had had no chance to avoid the smaller mass of human and leather that landed full on his chestplate from a branch above. The heavy collision brought a huff of air out from him and he fell heavily onto the ground, back down and the female on top of him. She knelt with one knee upon his chest and the other on the ground beside him, pointing her dagger at his neck. She had landed, despite the impact, with perfect grace, showing skills far passed her age.

"Dow die, beast." She hissed and grabbed the dagger with both hands for a plunge. Tartarus had barely enough time to reach up and grab her wrist before it would have pierced his throat. The female let a look of surprise at his reflex on her face but it soon changed to one of anger. She pressed down harder and for a second they struggled, the sharp edge of the dagger trembling dangerously close to his skin. Then he decided enough was enough and with a growl he shoved her off of him with both hands. She moved with the forced of it and rolled back on the ground, brought her feet under her and sprang up just as Tartarus did the same.

He had to think fast. She had her weapon still while his was nowhere in sight. She was fast and agile and his hope of matching her in that area was doubtful. He had to think smarter. He didn`t get much time for she charged with dagger held behind her ready for a plunge into his midsection. He raised both hands and managed to grab her by first one wrist and then the other just as she was about to plunge the dagger into him. They struggled for control once again and it seemed she would be pressed down again. Tartarus felt a sense of satisfaction but then she smirked, spun around and threw him over her hip, making him tumble like a rock into the dirt, getting a face full of it. Once again she knelt upon him, now on his back and panting a little. With a few quick yerks she brought his wrists behind his back and bound them with a leather strap she produced from within her armor`s straps where it had hung. Tartarus struggled but it was too late. The strap was tied tight.

"Now stay down." She hissed and went to find her dagger.

"Release me human." He growled out angrily once he got his mouth relatively soil free. She froze and slowly turned around with wide eyes.

"You speak?"

"I will do much more than that if you do not do as I say." He hissed. She shook her head with a grimace

"Speaking darkspawn. How come you intrude upon our forest? If you come to destroy like the rest then I am afraid you will fail, or already have failed is more like it."

"I am here to do the biding of my Master and I will not have some puny human stand in my way."

"Human?" the female shook her head."I am of the elves beast, no simple shem."

Tartarus struggled against his restraints. "It does not matter what you are. You are a coward who face your opponent while he is down on the ground."

The elf smiled. "Is that supposed to provoke me? No, you are coming with me to the clan." She said and held her knife at his back. "Rise." she demanded. It took a few pokes from the blade but the darkspawn grudgingly rose to a stand, hands behind him still.

"You poison has tainted the land around my clan and my keeper would like to find a way to halt it. Maybe you will help with that." She said and shoved him forward. Tartarus was a bit marveled by her sheer physical strength as he took a few heavy steps forward. Not many humans he had faced would have hoped to match such a feat.

He assumed this "Keeper" was the "elves" alpha. And he wants to stop the taint. Tartarus huffed, as if anyone could halt the very presence of the Master and his warriors. And he certainly would not get any aid from him. With a hiss he broke into a run for it off the path she led him on. He came a good ten meters before something hard hit his back. He fell from the impact and had enough time to see a rock thud off the ground next to him before he fell into a roll. He heard laughter as he stopped his tumble against a log and saw the elf come over to him. In her hand dangled a piece of brown cloth. A sling

"Oh and I should warn you, no one escapes the sling of Aelith the Stinger." She smirked and once again forced him up with a sharp prick of her dagger.

"Aelith the Stinger?" he mumbled as he trotted on.

"Well the Stinger part is just a name my clan gave me, it fits though does it not?" she smirked and patted the place where the rock had hit hard on his back. He winced at the feeling of pained muscles. Suddenly her mood had swinged from the serious captor to some who was almost…happy. Pride he supposed.

"Darkspawn have any names?" she asked

"Why do you wonder?"

Aelith shrugged. "Do you prefer beast, or monster?"

"No!"

"Then what are you called.

"Tartarus."

"Well then Tartarus, let get this done with as little unpleasantness as possible shall we?"

He did not answer. This sudden swing of mood had thrown him off guard a little. He could only give a nod.

"Good." Aelith smiled and then cocked her head at him. "How did you get the scar?"

"I was attacked shortly after birth, that is all you need to know." He growled.

"Oh well handsome, we will have time to get to know each other once the keeper is done with you."

/

Skorge stood on an open, grassy field in a set of leather armor. He had chosen not to wear his heavy armor today and now he wished he had. He held a sword in his hand and it hung loosely by his side as he watched his opponents. Three Fangs, Maccabeus, Druss and a new addition, Calid had surrounded him. They all held their own blades pointed at him and with murder in their eyes. They had gone a bit from the camp but now Skorge wished they hadn`t as he watched his warriors, his brothers go after his blood in battle. No one moved besides the grass waving from an early wind breeze. No one made a sound besides the low hisses of excitement for the coming fight. Then Skorge heard the slight creaking of leather as Druss crouched his stance a little. A slight bending of his knees that spoke of the coming attack. It followed a second after. With a roar Druss charged at his commander`s left flank, sword held out to strike. Skorge did not move until the other hurlock was almost upon him. He set his feet in a solid stance and thrust his left elbow straight out and up a little, catching Druss`s chin with a bloody trickle from his mouth following shortly after. The force of the blow lifted Druss straight off the ground and he fell back and landed two meters away. Calid came next. He charged but in a slower speed which game him ample time to raise his blade for a downward strike. Skorge raised hiw own weapon to meet him and the two clashed with a loud clang of metal. Calid`s follow up slashed were wild and easily parried by Skorge who then brought his leg around and behind Calid and tripped him over. After giving the other darkspawn a kick to the chest as he stepped past only Maccabeus remained.

Skorge would have to take care with this one. Maccabeus was calm in both stance and eye, his sword held raised at his side, a position that would allow him to either parry or strike on a short notice.

"Come, and show your commander what you can do." Skorge urged and Maccabeus complied with a slight curving of his cracked lips. The two came together and locked their blades between them. For a few long seconds they pushed against the other, the only noises coming from the two groaning hurlocks on the ground and the almost unnoticeable screeching of metal as their swords slid against each other. Skorge growled and stepped back with Maccabeus in persuit. The two exchanged fast and furious blows with both dodging and parrying.

"Enough." Skorge boomed as he sidestepped a swipe towards his head, stepped inside the now dropped guard and punched Maccabeus`s face hard enough to make him stagger back. All were still again for a second before Skorge grinned.

"Well done." He said and helped Calid to his feet. This little training session had shown some skill on the younger hurlock`s part. Skorge still remember when he had extended the spell of reasoning to Calid a few days ago. This had brought on an immobilizing ache in his head and had this had served to show the toll keeping the spell of the Fang took on his body and mind. He stepped up to Druss

"You have trained on the gunlocks for too long brother." He accused. The hurlock had charged without care as if facing a weaker opponent. Licinus, Grattius and Vorenus chuckled from where they stood on the side of the sparring ring, as did Maccabeus and Calid, even though Maccabeus helped the shamed Druss to his feet. Now that they had started to come into their own minds Skorge was pleased to see that they now had begun to accept their fellow Fangs as well.

"Licinus, show him some proper _hurlock_ fighting."

The scarred veteran was a master with his two swords and he nodded. "Yes commander." And stepped into the ring while the others stepped out. Skorge watched the duel unfold back and forth with the others. He heard them laugh at mistakes and congratulate success on both sides. He allowed himself an unusual smile. Now if only Strab could find Tartarus in one peace and he could deliver a good report they could continue onward.

The duel was ended when Druss was once again tripped with Licinus kneeling upon him with his swords crossed over his neck, forcing a surrender. But Licinus now sported a trickle of blood from a cut in his side and he held out an arm to Druss in respect as he helped him to his feet.

Skorge raised his head and howled. It was a triumphant sound of victory and the others were quick to join in. The sound echoed back to the camp, raising a few heads. Once the sound ebbed out Skorge looked at his warriors with proud eyes.

"My Fangs, my brothers. You are the most skilled, most lethal of our kind. Together we will crush these humans and see the Master`s will to be done." He cried out with a sense of elation as they raised their blades with him.

"Strab will return with his warriors soon, and Tartarus along with them. Prepare for their arrival and your warriors to brake camp. We shall soon march onward to glorious triumph." He said and they all grumbled with content as they marched back.

Skorge turned to look out over the open grassland. "_If you are watching, dragon, then know that you have spoken false. I will lead my people to victory throughout the land and the Master shall rule all_. _That I swear_." He challenged to the air and the clear morning sky.

No reply came to his mental call and he turned to follow the others.

/

Strab knelt down and picked an object from the ground. It was a leather strap from a darkspawn`s armor. Behind him stood the party of about a dozen warriors he had taken with him on his search for Tartarus. He had found no sign of either the commander or his scouting group so far but this severed strap indicated that they had passed. They must have done so recently because the ground showed only the faintest signs of the taint. He had reached a large vet field and here they had made their first and only real progress in the search. A genlock body, pierced by an arrow of talented make. The scattering tracks found around the scene told that Tartarus`s force had simply left as pleased in all directions without leadership. Another body, a Hurlock which was found further away spoke of a conflict between two of the now aimless warriors. The quest seemed doomed to fail here.

Strab felt utter hopelessness as he looked over one pair of tracks after the other. It was impossible to see which belonged to the brother he sought. He growled in frustration and struck his armored fist against a tree and looked down. Then he snapped up. There were a pair of feet marks there but smaller and not as deep, indicating that the owner were not nearly as heavy as any of the darkspawn. He followed the tracks as they grew wider between imprints, meaning the owner had been running. They then vanished just as quickly by a low hanging branch. He was about to give up hope again when he saw the marks of dirt on the following branches.

"_He ran in the trees_?" Strab thought. That was when he noticed a pair of heavy Hurlock tracks following just below the dirt marked trees.

"As good as any other." He mumbled. If any one was aggressive enough to chase someone fleeing through the trees it might as well have been Tartarus.

"Come with me, we have picked up a scent." He shouted and ran, the others thundering behind. 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: The Elven Camp

Skorge and Ritul walked along a long, seemingly endless river while the army`s vast camp stretched behind them. The still water lay like a huge, molten mirror in the ground, reflecting the clear midday sky as well as the waving trees behind the pair, disturbed by a slow wind. These ones were lush and lively but a few hundred meters back towards the horde they were dead and still, completely black and leafless. The corruption had spread a good way out from the camp and it served as a good indication that they had been here for some time now. Skorge had finally decided to change this. With a few sharp barks of command to pack up and get in a reasonable enough formation they would head onward to the great lowlands if the country they had found.

Skorge walked in among the bustle of the camp and happened to spot a genlock throw away a piece of flesh from the corpse of one of its brothers. How this second one had been killed he had no idea but the shorter creatures seemed to die like flies in the camp. Luckily there were enough of them to make up any essential task. The flesh landed with a thud and a gush of dust as it fell close to one of the tents. It did not remain there for long because out of the shadow of the small tent a creature darted out and swiped it up. Once Skorge got a good view of the beast he saw that it was one of the new surface creatures that had taken to accompany the army. It looked similar to the animals the humans had used in the battle but more sleek and with grey fur which almost dripped with the stripes of corruption that infected it. Several of these pack animals had snuck out of the wilds to roam the camp, terrorizing the genlocks and snatching whatever bit of food they could find. They acted like tame pets around the hurlocks however and avoided the ogres and shrieks altogether. Maccabeus had declared his wish to try and use them in battle had had begun to train them with Skorge`s consent. They were savage fighters and totally obedient to any hurlock that issued them a command so it was not long before Skorge found use for these animals among the horde`s scouting and raiding parties.

Skorge entered his command tent and here he found Grattius. The hurlock officer had collected a summary of the last few days scouting reports and had been ordered here to speak of them with the supreme commander.

"What have you found?"

"There are several human settlements ahead of us. Most of them are smaller than the one we found at the edge of the forest but there are a few even bigger in the central lands." The older hurlock spoke with excitement. "We have also spotted several contingents of human warriors traveling on the road. They seem to be mobilizing their forces."

Skorge eyes got a bit wider in surprise. "Have they found our camp?"

"We cannot be sure but it is of course a possibility. However…" Grattius trailed of a little, not sure how to really make what he had to say next make sense. "One of our smaller genlock-led groups claims to have seen one of their settlement`s soldiers meet with a second group which came from one of the main roads and…they were said to have attacked each other after heated words were exchanged."

When Skorge raised his eyebrow, or what would have been an eyebrow, Grattius shrugged. "I had the genlock in question sent to the Torture master." He said. The Torture master was a shriek alpha who was extremely proficient at his profession. Shrieks were naturally talented at finding an opponent's bodily weak points. It was a necessary skill to have when living in the Deep Roads where they might run into enraged and hostile hurlocks, ogres or brontos among other, who were all physically larger and stronger than the shriek itself. Unlike his brethren who used this talent to find these weak spots to quickly kill a dangerous opponent, the Torture master used it to find the ones that caused the most pain, and made sure to suck every little drop of agony from each one in his victims before moving on to the next. The loud howl that timely accompanied Grattius`s words said that he had just started.

"Why would they attack their own while invaded?" he asked with no comprehension at all.

"The surface is a strange place brother." Grattius nodded.

"Well it serves our purposes that much better. Let them fight and bleed each other dry, once they are done we will feed upon the corpses." Skorge smirked and both Grattius and Ritul cackled lowly. Grattius got his chuckled under control soon and continued.

"However, there are a few humans who have spotted us and are moving to defend themselves. These…strongholds…." He scoffed, as the few barricades they had erected around their little nests were hardly worthy of the term. "…Are few and far between. They pose no threat and I find it more likely that they have only seen our scouting parties and do not know our true number."

"Then we shall have some entertainment for a while." Skorge grinned." They are scattered and weak like the deep stalker, lets attack before they unite and become like the ogre." 

/

Tartarus had been lead through puddles of brown water and over rotten logs by Aelith for two hours now. The forest had finally woken up and come to life with singing birds and playing squirrels. The sun escaped randomly past the thick branches of the even thicker trees and cast their lights to dot the ground around them, some of the rays reflecting off a clear stream to flash in his face and he turned away with a grunt. Aelith threw a palm sized rock into it and listened to the splash it made. He had wished that the annoying forest sounds were all his unused ears would have had to suffer, but not, they were further pestered by one frustratingly chatty elf.

"So this boy Lian`ta got his leather leggings in a twist because I supposedly killed _his _boar during our first hunt as children and he went and broke my bow." She said with a look and tone that added, "_Can you believe that_?"

"So that was totally uncalled for and of course I had to take revenge. I remembered how he said my bow skills were inferior to his so I though hey, why not try something else? So I took this piece of cloth right here and when he was out to hunt for some rabbit like the _unskilled _hunter he is…I stung him good." She said and laughed at herself. "And that's how I became the Stinger, the short version anyway. Thanks for asking, I always like to tell that one."

"I didn't ask." He grumbled. "I asked how much further?"

"Oh…to me it sounded like you asked about the story of my appropriate title." She shrugged. "We will be there soon handsome."

"Stop calling me that. I do not even know what that means. My name is Tartarus." He growled.

"Hey now, you will find that alot of women find scars attractive. And you have the most notable I have ever seen. And I have seen a man get clawed by a bear and live to show it." She chuckled. They walked across a stream that was barely more than a trickle really and then returned onto the interrupted path.

"Surfacers." Tartarus groaned.

"Elf." Aelith corrected, earning herself another growl. Tartarus would have returned to silent grumblings but then the trees opened up to reveal a wide clearing which was filled with big white tents, caravan wagons and piles of supplies. The boxes and crates and barrels lay neatly tucked in against each tent`s thin fabric wall. There were small status of various forest creatures all around; the most prominent and noticeable was a wolf sitting erect, as if on guard with eyes carved so realistically that he for a moment actually got the feeling it sent him a suspicious glare. There were fires in place dotted around where ever there were space and on the far side he thought he saw a herd of white, horse like creatures with horns. He had only seen similar creatures when he saw the humans ride their big, smelly horses but these were sleek and the very image of grace. Almost beautiful, he thought. And there were elves everywhere.

Adults in leathers like Aelith with bows and daggers at their backs, elders who tended to shops and storage and storytelling, children running around tents in play hunting where it seemed one of them played the "Hunter" while the rest were called the "prey" and the hunter must catch all to win. That was as much as he got time to notice before every last one of them snapped their eyes to him and froze in whatever they were doing; even those white, horned animals watched him warily. In a flash the male and females with weapons had these out and pointed at him in a series of swishes and sliding of metal and creaking of bow strings. The closest man with a bow looked as if to let the arrow fly but then Aelith stepped out from behind Tartarus where she had been standing a raised her palms.

"Wait, please wait and listen. I need to bring this darkspawn to the Keeper." She shouted. For another second no one moved but then an woman who looked a bit older than Aelith came up.

"Aelith, have you gone mad?" she accused. "What, by the creators, drove you to bring a darkspawn to our camp?"

"I have him restrained _Dilwyn._ Keep the children away and bring Vilia here." She said as the two women locked gazes.

Tartarus had no idea as to what was going on here but he recognized a challenged when he saw one. It was obvious by this Dilwyn`s angry, searching eyes and Aelith`s raised chin and slightly puffed chest that there was old disagreement between the two. After a while Dilwyn finally scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but if this thing does any harm it will be your hide _Stinger."_ She snarled and walked off to get the Keeper. The older and the children left them to return to their previous activities but it was clear that they did so with far less happy spirits now and worked slow due to constant looks his way. The warriors remained but at a distance. Aelith sighed.

"Sorry about Dilwyn. She is Keeper Vilia`s niece and sees herself as security responsible around here. She tends to bare her fangs and hiss at anything new." She shrugged. "Don't worry, any false step and she reserve yet another prick from the Stinger." She smirked and leaned against the wide trunk of a tree. Tartarus was silent for a while and then spoke.

"I am confused. She challenged you and backed down from your…superior strength." His tone made it clear he used the term lightly." And yet you allow her to walk away unpunished?"

"Well it would hardly be practical if I went around beating on anyone who don't agree with me would it?" she asked but Tartarus return look made it clear he thought it was perfectly so. She sighed.

"She has earned herself enough butt-whoppings from me to last another few years back when we were kids. If she hasn't learned by then well…then I guess I had better remind her." She giggled and tossed with her sling. Any further conversation was interrupted when Dilwyn returned alongside an elderly woman wearing leathers like the warriors but also a coat of bear skin around her shoulders hung down her back. She had deep, piercing eyes that burned with wisdom and power not visible in her withered frame. Yet she moved with grace and determination and when she spotted him her eyes flared with suspicion and anger well hidden behind a stony mask of neutrality. She walked up to the two of them and stared into Tartarus`s big eyes without a flinch and then she mumbled.

"Aelith, leave us please."

The young elf hesitated a moment but then nodded. "Yes Keeper." And then she left them and disappeared into one of the far away tents. Vilia looked at Tartarus with utter disdain and for the first time in the darkspawn officer`s life of blood and battle, he felt a shill run up his spine. Yet this did not manifest in any way in his appearance and he met her searching look firmly

"You are different from your fellows are you not?" she asked. "I sense it in you."

"In many ways elf." He snarled

"Then there is some hope at least for us to stop this plague."

"Not if I have a say in it."

"You don`t."

She then unleashed an immobilizing torrent of lightning straight at him and Tartarus roared in pain and torment. All the elves turned and watched in frozen shock as he fell.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Darkness Reaches Ferelden

**One week after the darkspawn horde entered the Bannorn.**

The human warrior fell to his knees in the waving grass, minus his head. The body then slumped to the ground with a heavy rustling sound of armor as it lay on a growing pool of blood that soon mingled with that of his fellows in the soft grass. Skorge scoffed and turned away, his axe dripping still. Around him stood a contingent of his warriors, they too finishing off the last of the human patrol they had come upon. Ever since arriving in the human lowlands he had seen dozens of these minor engagements as he sent out his warriors in groups to hunt down the humans among the woods and hills. Mostly these encounters were with caravans of females and those smaller ones and no fight to speak of occurred. But sometimes they were lucky and came upon the occasional human contingent marching through to reinforce the human settlements and offered some entertainment.

"Bring their armor and weapons. Leave the bodies." He barked at his genlocks and called Maccabeus over.

"Tell me, what would you estimate the number of the human forces to be now?" he asked and pointed to a few thin smoke pillars rising on the distance. It was the largest human village they had seen so far and also with the strongest garrison.

"They have received a few extra groups of warriors but if we strike now we will crush them. I would say no more than three hundred able warriors. The settlement has strong barricades however."

"They will not stop us for long."

"True, but laying siege might allow more humans to come to its aid soon."

"They shall fall as well."

"…Yes commander."

With that Maccabeus hurried off to give the order. Skorge allowed himself a smirk at the coming battle.

"_Three hundred against thousands_." He mused as his warriors left the field.

/

Tartarus had been in the elven camp for a week now. He currently sat in the tent he had been given as his holding den, constantly guarded by four warriors at all times. The Keeper had visited him twice a day to do her little "experiments". These usually involved lightning, various poisons she made him drink or spells to observe his mind, rather roughly and painfully. She claimed this was to examine how his body and mind reacted to various conditions and how it might cause a change in the taint he spread and maybe even stop it all together. So far though, he thought to himself, she had gotten nothing but pain out of him, thought this hardly seemed to bother her. And why should it really? He was a monster in her eyes. But that she told these things, that she was doing her best to find a key to stop a disease when it was obvious, at least to him, that she was doing all but actually saying that she was just torturing him, he did not understand. Maybe it was just to hide the pleasure she took from it.

It was a hellish existence which, oddly enough, was only brightened by Aelith`s company. The young elf would also visit him once the Keeper was done with him for the day. She would sometimes bring him water o drink. He didn`t need it, the taint sustained him like it did all darkspawn, and yet he found himself accepting the gifts whenever she brought them. It always brought a little smile to her when he drank it. It was also odd since at first he had acted little better than a chained rabid dog to anyone who came close. But now he did not growl, and he did not turn away from her. Instead he found himself watching the open flaps of the tent each time the Keeper left him with smoldering skin or traces of some painful mix still in his blood, waiting for her. They talked as well. She would ask about the life of a darkspawn and he would explain what little he could. To him existence was all about serving the Master and battle. This often confused Aelith who would then ask what he wanted to do. He never had an answer to that. Their natures were opposites.

He was a raging beasts meant to serve the whims of a god he would never truly know and die if He asked for it. He was meant to bring suffering and war to those who opposed the Master`s rise. She…she was not the same.

Aelith was the image of a free creature. She told him of how she laughed when the smith`s apprentice dropped something and received a scolding for it. How she would sometimes go hunting for a day or two and sleep in the crook of a tree if she found the camp too far of to walk. She told him of how she would stand in a quiet clearing and feel the forest live around her. He had been stunned by it all. This was completely unknown to him. He forests were dark caves and tunnels. His calm rest in a tree would never come and his laughs were nothing but angry growl. He felt…jealous of her. Yet he always wanted to hear more of life on the surface and he always wanted to see her happy smile when she saw his bound form in the corner of a tent. He had once asked.

"Why do you do this?

"Hmm?"

"You make my time here endurable, why?"

"Wolf." Was all she had said with a wink.

"One day I`ll tell you what it means."

Then Vilia would return and send Aelith away to begin the session of pain once more.

/

Skorge sat in his command tent that night while Maccabeus brought him news.

"They what?" he asked, hardly believing what he heard.

"The human prisoner speaks true commander. The three hundred are marching out to face us on the field. It seems that the humans still in the village are preparing to flee while they fight us. According to the prisoner they are marching to the lake side not far from here and takes position between two high cliffs in a chain of high hills. We will need to pass them commander." The officer said.

"Then prepare our warriors to move. Finally a good fight." He grinned and stood. The camp seemed to spring into activity as if someone had snapped their fingers. In a hurry the warriors were bunched up and the equipment for the battle was brought in line for marching. Skorge and the officers took their places at the head of the rapidly forming column and gave the crisp orders to move, begin the usual chorus of thundering steps and low hissing of the darkspawn horde on the march for blood.

/

Tartarus held his bleeding wrist while Vilia stood over by the entrance to the tent, holding a vile filled with the fruits of the cut. He had been restrained to the point of immobility so he would not flick the blood onto her my mistake or intent. She had a look of outmost self-pleasure on her face as she glanced at him.

"With this your stay here is closing to an end creature, this is all I need to find a cure for the sickness." She said. Tartarus`s head hung limp on his shoulders, barely moving. He had been beaten mercilessly for repeated attempts at either escape or assault on his captors and he bleed from his mouth a little as he mumbled.

"It will not help you…."

"What was that, beast?"

"You are all dead surface, my brothers are near, they will avenge me, whatever you do to me will be paid back in kind. They are near." He chuckled, but with his beaten body and simply because his vocal cords were not meant to produce the sound it came like a barking huffing.

"And I shall be sure to be the one to take your head if you do not do the wise thing and end me now. All of you will die." He raised his fiery eye to her. She stared and then grimaced before slamming her staff to his head, making his vision swim for a moment and when it refocused he saw her again, but she was smaller for some reason. No, it was Aelith. The girl had her hands on her hips, not an unusual pose for her, and looked just as surprised as Vilia had before the Keeper left.

"Darkspawn are close?" she asked

"Yes!"

"Not with peaceful goals I imagine."

"No."

She frowned. "Look, I dislike the keeper as much as you probably do, but I will not stand by and see my people suffer. If you are what leads them here…" she walked closer and drew a dagger from behind her back. He looked up into her young yet steely eyes before he hung low again. She raised the sharp edge high and then let it wall.

Skorge felt the tension in his arms loosen and then they slacked by his sides, the rope that had held them falling to the ground in two pieces. He looked at is free hands and flexed a little before looking up at her. "Then we had better get you out of here."

Ten minutes later the two snuck out of the tent, running from tent to tent while glancing around like squirrels at every corner and side for any who might spot them. Inside one of them Aelith picked up a bag with various items he did not recognize plus her sling and hefted it all on her back. Seemed like she planned on more than leading him out from the camp.

"Where are you planning to go?" he asked

"With you of course handsome, have to make sure you don`t get your uh…" she noted his lack of a nose, ruining her sentence."…yourself in trouble."

"I…thank you."

"Don`t mention it, the Stinger is here to aid." She smirked and the unnatural duo fled into the dark forest. Night was setting and the young elf knew this would be the first of many like it to come, and the most dangerous for them. Luckily, having a 6`8 foot darkspawn with her helped her odds a little. She handed him her dagger and they ran northward, towards the edge of the great forest the elves called home. Out here in the wild she also discovered new things about him that had been hard to point out in the camp due to many other elements. The first of which was the smell. He smelled a bit like leather, like a new pair of boots. It was not unpleasant. His voice, having for the last few days sounded like that of a bear due to constant pain and anger influencing it, was now more of a deep, comforting sound, like having a giant watch over you in the darkness. That the giant in question might normally have eaten her in her sleep did not occur to her, for she knew he would not. When they stopped to rest, something neither really needed, she also looked into his white, milky eyes. At first they seemed like simple white haze or like a sheet over normal eyes but now, in the moonlight, they were deep silver, showing a depth not mirrored by his other features. Was he really so much of a monster? What separated him from the shems, or the qunari, that made him a monster? They all killed and she had seen them commit acts in war or peace that made her shudder still. Tartarus never made her shudder.

"You do realize that if my brothers spot you elf, they will attack on sight."

"I know, but I am not worried."

"Why not?"

"Because you will not let them hurt me."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: The Frozen Giant

**Author`s note: This is going to be a short "extra" chapter where we see the warden`s return to Ostagar. This contains some information from the Return to Ostagar DLC so anyone who might not have seen that but plan to, this might be a bit of a spoiler but will try to keep that to a minimum. Here we get a short glimpse of the second chance of Skorge`s first and to date only real friend.**

Darkness surrounded him. It enveloped the once mighty fighter`s spirit and clouded his vision. It left him as if at the bottom of his home caverns, endless and impenetrable shadow. Of course this had never scared him, he feared nothing. But this was the darkness of death, not his home. And so Fist, the mighty ogre, feared this endless bed of blackness where he was doomed to spend his eternity.

But then, as if by the most amazing miracle, a glimpse of light appeared before him. It was just a dot at first, like the ones in the dark sky he had seen on the surface. Those little light dots had always fascinated him. Now it grew closer, or maybe it was growing larger. His dead skin felt the old sensation of cold again, more cold than ever before. The light almost filled his vision now.

He felt the smells again. His nostrils were permeated with the sweet scent of decay and a battle won long ago. The light was all he saw now, growing ever brighter.

He could hear again. He heard the sounds of footsteps on the ground, close by and crunching in something, snow? The light became blinding.

He then felt a presence in his flesh that made his mouth open in a silent snarl, the presence of magic. He had always likened it to a sickness in his body whenever it was near him. The light flashed once like the brightest fire he had ever seen and then seemed to melt into him. As if someone had pulled a pin he saw the sky in a flash and he regained control of his limbs that he remained unmoving for so long. His bones and muscles creaked as he lifted one arm to his chest and felt movement on his wide chest. He turned his gaze from the dull sky and the old, snow covered human fortress to his torso and was surprised to find one of the surface creature there. It looked a little like a deep stalker but covered in black feathers and two wings. He watched as its head shot down and nipped a tiny piece of blue flesh from his body. He also noted that his body was covered with these little holes, pecked by the bird. He also noticed two blades lodged in him, yet they did not hurt. He waved it away with a single swipe of his fist and lay back in the snow covered grass. He had a faint sensation of being watched but did not care. He moved a hand to his face and over his wide snout to rub his eye.

Only to make an odd discovery, his finger just…slipped into his eye. No, that was not right, could not be. He rubbed again and let out a yelp of surprise, his right eyeball was entirely missing. He sat up with effort and noted that he was also missing part of one foot and a chunk from his arm. His skin was not blue as he had seen it last. It was almost pale frozen white and green from decay. He snarled and stood, snow cascading off him. Around him lay many bodies of humans, they too frozen solid but still trapped in their own sheets of darkness, their own deaths. He grew agitated, he swing his massive head from side to side, searching for anything to explain how this could be. Was he dead, and yet he felt and saw. Then his eyes found a genlock, an emissary from the leathers and headdress. And not just any emissary, the necromancer all in the camp had gone out of their way to avoid. Fist knew he had the ability to bring back the dead. Had he brought him back? Why?

"It's the one that murdered Cailan!"

Fist spun at the words, they were definitely human. Then he spotted them, and froze like he had been a few minutes ago. There stood three humans. The first he noted was the Warden female his lord and master, Skorge, had an intense hatred off. She no longer had her blonde hair in a wild curtain over her back, now it was in a tight pony-tail but all else were the same about her, besides the small scars on her previous child-like face. She had a grim stare and from the tone he guessed she was the one who had spoken. The second was the other warden, the male knight whom they always found close to the woman, following her like a loyal dog. Fist could respect that. The last was another woman, an old one from the wrinkles and wise eyes. She held a staff and robes on her, an emissary then.

Fist growled and threw his head back to face the sky and roared. He would slay these enemies on his master`s, his friend`s behalf and then go to join him. He would tear them to tiny, tasty pieced and find Skorge and follow him once more.

He stomped through the light snow in a vicious charge. Bodies and branches were all crushed under his feet as he moved. He saw that he was no longer alone in the attack either. Half rotten humans were charging with him at his flanks. The enemy trio also sprang into action. The woman drew two daggers and sent them spinning through the air, felling two corpses with daggers in their head or neck. The knight charged to engage the others while the human emissary focused on the necromancer, who Fist now noticed fidgeting with a golden helmet in his hand. This left Fist with the target he wanted.

The woman met his charged with her own. Her throw had left her unarmed and the sight would have seemed like madness but as they came together she tucked and rolled between the giant`s legs, coming up on the other side without breaking stride as she ran to a corpse and picked up its spear. Just as Fist turned again she threw it with a strength her little form did not speak of and it flew, straight and true to its purpose. Fist felt his first sensation of pain since his reawakening as it pierced and lodges in his shoulder, making him stumble back two steps. When he glared back at her she gave him a challenging wink. He roared and charged, head and horns down in front of him. The Warden leapt aside and would have avoided him, but Fist was smarter than that. As he passed her he broke his mad dash and snatched her up mid-leap. He felt a sense of elation as he held her up to his face. With great effort his wide jaws and trembling lips formed in the human tongue.

"Die human…!" he rasped, his voice like a growl in a great cave. She got a look of shock but then seemed to snap out as she glared back.

"Let her go beast!" the knight called and Fist felt something run up his back and then a sharp pain as a blade sunk in between his shoulder blades. He grunted and let the woman go, focusing on shaking the male off with a clang of metal as his armored form struck the ground. He turned back to where the woman lay, she was who he wanted. Only to get struck in the chest by a ball of ice from the older female, standing over the smoking body of the emissary. This made him pause and stare in shock. Without the emissary to hold up the magic link…

He stumbled and groaned as his leg no longer obeyed him, dead as if had been a short while ago. He began to panic, he had to get to the woman before…

He fell as he wound his face connecting with the warden`s boot and fell back into a panting heap on his back. His other leg gave out and grew numb as well, followed by his right arm, leaving his left still trembling as the darkness crawled over him again. His senses faded and he only had his sight and sense of feeling when he saw the woman gracefully step onto his wide chest and with a grunt yank both of the lodged blades from his chest with a crunch as of frost. It didn`t hurt, it should hurt…shouldn`t it?

She leapt away and Fist`s sight returned to the flashing light. It flickered and grew smaller, further away. He panicked and he wanted to reach out for it, to grasp this last dot of hope and connection to life. He roared in terror as it slipped away and vanished. The sheet of darkness once again descended over the great warrior in his sleep of death.

"Forgive me, master and friend…Skorge. I could not help you anymore…"


End file.
